Iridescent Hunter
by canisailyourpajamaspl0x
Summary: It was a normal day on the farm for the survivors until they find a stranger lurking about in the swamps.
1. Chapter 1

A week had passed since the Sophia incident and the group was still in shock. Daryl spent most of his time alone out where she had been buried. Every time Carol tried to join him, he would just get up and walk away. There was one day that she could have sworn she saw tears, but Daryl wiped his face before she could really be sure. As for Carol, her tears seemed to have run dry. The first few days after Sophia's burial, she would lay in her tent curled around Sophia's doll sobbing. It wasn't clear why she had finally stopped, but no one really wanted to ask.

After spending the whole morning gathering up the courage, Carol finally decided to make Daryl talk to her. When he got up to leave Sophia's grave, she moved in front of him. Daryl said nothing, but tried moving past her instead. "Daryl." Carol demanded causing him to look at her. She could see from his face he was fighting back most of his anger. "What?" he seemed to spit the word at her. She did nothing but stare at him for a moment before going on, "You need to stop this."

"Stop what?" he asked eying her.

"Alienating yourself from everyone. Sophia wouldn't have wanted it for either of us."

"And what would a mother who doesn't even mourn the loss of her own daughter know 'bout what she would've wanted?" he asked angrily.

Carol felt a strongly worded retort building up in her, but at this point, she knew this was how Daryl handled any sort of situation. "I have done my share of mourning." she replied silently, "But, I found a comfort in knowing she doesn't have to suffer in this world anymore. I miss the hell out of her, but I can't be sad knowing that she doesn't have to deal with this."

Daryl stayed silent looking at the ground taking in a deep breath before looking back at the grave. He opened his mouth as if to speak again, but no sound came out. Pursing his lips, he pushed past Carol to go back toward the farm house. When he was half-way across the field, a loud gunshot rang in the still air. Time seemed to stand still as the whole group froze and looked in the direction the sound came from. Instinct kicked in as Daryl ran to the camper grabbing a shotgun and joining Shane, Rick, and Andrea at the swamp's edge. Just as they were about to enter, another shot rang in the air. Without hesitating, the four took off into the swamp their guns ready to fire at any walker to cross their paths.

"Who the hell is out there?" Shane asked gruffly glancing over at Rick.

"No one from the group" Rick answered quickly, "Dale would have said something if someone had wandered off."

Suddenly, Andrea tripped over something and fell to the ground. Shane went back to help her up noticing that she had tripped over a dead walker.

"Whoever it is, they know what they're doin'" Daryl mumbled looking at the single gunshot to the head. The sound of twigs cracking caused them to snap up their guns at the ready. A small young woman stepped out from the bushes a handgun pointing straight at Andrea's head. As soon as she saw that they weren't walkers, she lowered her weapon. Her face was dirty and blood stained her white undershirt as well as the red plaid shirt she wore over it. Small mud clumps clung to her hair making it clear she hadn't had a good day in a long while. Andrea stood up and walked over to her slowly not wanting to alarm her.

"You can come with us" she said calmly to the woman, "We have clothes and a shower."

The word shower seemed to be the only thing to catch the woman's attention because as soon as it was spoken, her eyes gained a little light. Not a single word was spoken as the five made their way back to the farm house except the occasional question Rick decided to utter. When he came to terms that the woman wouldn't speak, he kept quiet. Daryl would glance over to her only to let his eyes drop as soon as she looked back. When they finally made their way back to the house, Hershel directed the woman to the bathroom.

An hour passed before the girl came down the stairs dawning an outfit Lori has leant her. Her long brown hair hung flawlessly over her shoulders as she took a seat at the dining table. She devoured the soup in the bowl Maggie had placed in front of her in what seemed like seconds.

"It's been a while since you've eaten." Rick stated sitting in the chair across from her. She nodded quickly looking at him with kind eyes. "What's your name?" he asked softly. She looked away pursing her lips and furrowing her brow as if in deep thought. Eventually, she brought her gaze back to Rick's tapping on her throat with her finger and shaking her head. "You can't speak?" he added. She shook her head and looked at the table. Dale sat in the chair next to her with a pen and a notepad.

"Just write your name for us, sweetie." he said silently sliding it over to her. She took the notepad jotting letters on it before resting it in front of Rick. "Your name's Danielle." Rick said with a slight smile before Danielle pointed at the rest of what she wrote, "But we can call you Dani."

She smiled a little and nodded before looking over at Daryl who looked away from her again. "If you need to rest, there's a bed in my camper you can use." Dale chimed in causing Danielle to smile over at him with a nod. She took one last look at Daryl before following Dale out of the house and to the camper. As soon as she laid on the bed, she drifted to sleep her heart racing as another nightmare began.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Daryl woke suddenly in his tent from yet another nightmare starring Sophia. It seemed as though all he could think of was her face when she walked out of the barn. _Should've looked harder_, he thought to himself for about the millionth time. He left his tent and went to Dale's camper to grab a gun and a flower before he went out to Sophia's grave. When he walked in, he heard a faint groan coming from where the bed was. He looked over to see Danielle curled into the fetal position gripping tightly to the sheets her eyes shut just as tight. A sigh escaped him as he walked over to her.

"Hey," he muttered poking her shoulder. When she didn't wake, he sighed and poked her again. Danielle's eye shot open and she took in a deep breath of air as if to scream, but nothing came out. She looked up to see a defensive Daryl backing up and holding his hands in the air. "Didn't mean to scare ya" he scoffed, "Just noticed you were havin' a bad dream is all."

Danielle nodded and rolled her eyes at her stupid display of fear. Daryl stared at the ground for a moment before speaking again. "Just what we need" he mumbled as he turned to leave, "A damn skittish mute."

A frown found its way on her face when she heard what he said. Maybe he figured being mute meant she was deaf. She looked around for a moment before deciding to get out of bed and join the rest of the group outside. The sun was blinding and the heat was intense, but she was used to it by then. Trudging through the Georgia swamps in the middle of summer by herself made her pretty much immune to it all. Danielle looked around to see Carl doing homework next to Lori who was hanging laundry on the line. Danielle smiled a little and walked over to help her out. Lori seemed all too relieved to have someone else helping out.

"Normally Carol helps too" Lori said as she hung a shirt, "But ever since what happened with her daughter, she's needed some time to herself."

Danielle looked over at Lori hoping she would understand that she wanted to know what had happened with Carol's daughter. "Her name was Sophia" Lori began, "While we were out on the highway, a herd of walkers came through. One of them chased Sophia into the swamps. Rick went after them and took care of the walkers, but Sophia must have been so scared that she took off before Rick got back. We had been looking for her for a while before we came here. Daryl did most of the looking. Well, we finally found her. She was in the barn; she was a walker. Rick had to put her down."

Tears stung Danielle's eyes while Lori told her the grim tale of the short life Sophia lived. She quickly wiped them away and looked in the direction Daryl had walked to see him sitting on the ground. Lori noticed and continued her explanation, "I guess Daryl feels terrible about what happened. He was so hell-bent on finding her."

"We should all feel bad 'bout it." a gruff voice added. Lori and Danielle turned to see Daryl as he continued, "All of ya'll gave up on that little girl the second day she was gone. If we had spent as much time searchin' as we had hopin' she would just show up, she would probably be here now. Sophia died because we didn't try hard enough."

Lori averted her eyes from his as he spoke while Danielle just stared at him. Daryl looked back at her before letting out a rough sigh and walking to the house. "He's right" Lori mumbled. Danielle said nothing and pursed her lips Daryl's words stinging as if she could have done something to help Sophia as well. Though she knew that was impossible since she wasn't even around when all of this happened. Danielle went into the house to use the restroom. When she saw that there was someone in it already, she stood outside the door to wait. Then she heard a faint noise coming from the other side of the door; someone was crying. Just as she was leaning near the door to listen in, it was opened and he found her ear pressed against Daryl's chest.

"What the hell are you doin'?" he asked angrily his face completely void of any signs that he had been crying. Danielle kept silent and bit on her lip as she looked away. "Whatever" he grumbled pushing past her. She sighed walking into the bathroom and locking the door.

The run-in she had with Daryl left Danielle very confused. She didn't understand why he would be so embarrassed to mourn Sophia. The thought wracked her brain as she watched him eating his lunch in the lawn chair across from her. When he looked up at her, she moved her eyes to the ground poking at her food with her fork. As soon as Daryl left, T-Dog took a seat next to her.

"I've seen you starin' at him." he mumbled leading her to shake her head, "Don't you shake your head at me, I seen it. There's somethin' you need to know about Daryl Dixon. He won't care for you. He never has cared for anyone. The only reason he ever looked for Sophia was to get us to shut up. He's just like his brother. A selfish, racist redneck. You don't need to waste your time on him."

Danielle scoffed and looked at T-Dog. She tried her best to use her voice to express how she felt about what he said, but no noise came out. She decided that giving him the bird was better than just storming off. Even though she had only been with their group for a short while, she knew better than to think such things of Daryl. From what she had observed, other than Carol, he cared the most about what happened to the little girl. It wasn't clear to her why, but the fact that he did care was enough for her to ignore T-Dog's warning. She looked up to see Daryl at Sophia's grave and decided to join him. It was clear that he heard her footsteps approaching him, but he still didn't move. Suddenly, he spoke.

"Carol, I'm gettin' tired of this." he grumbled as he stood up, "Why can't you just leave me-"

He stopped speaking when he saw it was Danielle. His eyes shot to the ground as if in deep thought about what he was going to say next. "What're you doin' here?" he asked staring hard at her. Danielle's eyes widened unsure of what to say; she was so used to him just leaving every time she came around. "You need to learn to talk girl" he added with a shrug, "One day you're gonna need that voice. Walkers don't take it easy on mutes."

She furrowed her brow as he walked past her only to relax again when she saw what he had put on the ground. A single Cherokee Rose stood where he had been messing with the dirt. She pursed her lips turning around to see Shane standing behind her. Scared to death, she covered her mouth with her hand and nearly fell over before he caught her.

"Didn't mean to scare you" Shane said with a slight laugh, "I was just thinking about how well you took those walkers down out in the swamp. We have target practice every day out in the field if you would like to help out with it."

Danielle smiled nervously and shook her head knowing she wasn't much of a teacher. Shane nodded and patted her shoulder. "I figured you'd do that. Not comfortable enough with everyone yet" he said with a shrug, "It's understandable. Sorry again for scarin' you."

She nodded watching Shane turn to walk back toward the house. A sigh escaped her as she sat in the grass letting the wind blow her hair however it pleased. She heard footsteps approaching her but thought little of it. She figured it was Andrea about to make the same offer to her. But, as the footsteps neared, curiosity got the best of her and she looked up to see who it was. Her heart rate increased and she struggled to get to her feet. A walker seemed to be right on top of her as she tried to get herself up from the ground. She reached for her gun only to find that she had left it in Dale's camper. Just when she was sure she was done for, she heard a loud thud and looked to see the walker dead with an arrow in its eye. Tears were streaming down her face when Daryl knelt next to her to help her up.

"Told you that voice needs to work." he said with a sigh. Danielle, still in shock, did nothing but cling to his arm and stared at the walker. "Hey, calm down. It's dead." he mumbled poking it with the toe of his boot. She was still hyperventilating and treated Daryl's strong arm like it was the only thing there to grab onto. He walked forward Danielle still seeming like an arm accessory and pulled the arrow from the walker's head. She stayed clung to him the whole way back to the house. Maggie ran over to them and managed to pry Danielle from Daryl. When Daryl didn't feel her on him anymore, his eyes snapped over to meet Maggie's. "I've got her" Maggie mumbled leading her into the house. Once inside, Maggie led her to a bedroom and had her sit on the bed. "You're terrified of them" Maggie whispered looking into Danielle's eyes, "We're afraid of them, but they really scare the shit outta you."

Danielle said nothing but stared at the ground the image of the walker still burning in her brain. "Is that why you can't talk?" Maggie added making Danielle look at her. Danielle nodded a little and looked away. "I'm gonna go get my dad, you just sit here." Maggie said as she stood to leave the room. Danielle looked up to see Daryl standing in the doorway. Here eyes instantly shot to the ground embarrassed of her reaction out in the field. The room was silent for what seemed like forever before Daryl let out a gruff sigh. When Danielle looked up to see him turning to leave, she opened her mouth to speak. "T-thank you" a soft voice managed to escape her. Daryl turned to face her his face contorted not understanding what just happened.


	3. Chapter 3: Dani's Story

Tears blurred Danielle's vision as she rested her eyes on the bloodstained walls of the asylum she had come to call her home. Doctors and nurses who had once tried so hard to keep her within those walls were fighting each other to escape them. Her mind still in a dim haze from the pills they had forced down her throat just a few hours before, she took shelter in a nearby bathroom. Loud thumps of the infected banging on the door rang loud in the room made her heart race. She swallowed back her screams almost choking on them. Knowing that the metal door along with the deadbolts would be enough to hold her attackers back, she let the medication take its effect and laid on the floor to sleep.

An hour passed before she came to again. Her mind was working better without the effects of the medication. She stood up slowly being careful not to make a sound. Not sure if what she had witnessed was some delusion, she pressed her ear against the door and heard nothing. As soon as the loud click of the dead bolt rang through the silence, she could hear something running quickly toward her. She quickly locked the door again just as whoever it was slammed themselves against the door. Danielle looked around frantically for something to defend herself with. Her eyes rested on a loose pipe in one of the stalls; she quickly gripped onto it and yanked it away from the wall. She walked back over to the door standing off to the side and let a soft sigh out before unlocking the deadbolt again. A walker burst through the doorway and Danielle was quick to bash it in the head a few times. She felt the coolness of its blood on her face but ignored it as she inched her way out of the room. So much carnage had happened in the little time she spent in the bathroom. It looked as though the military made its way through the building.

When she came across a corpse with a gun, she hesitated at first. It had been so long since she had held a weapon like that and she wasn't sure if it would be a great idea to grab it. Then she heard something approaching her and the choice was made for her. She grabbed the gun and quickly stood up straight shooting another walker clean between the eyes. A sudden wave of grim flashbacks overwhelmed her causing her to lean against the wall holding the side of her head in her free hand. When she realized that she had no time to feel sorry for herself, she quickly ran to the back door still gripping the gun tightly in her hand. When she exited the building, she saw a couple walkers running in her direction, but they were far enough for her to get away; she wanted to conserve her ammunition. She hurried into the swamps not really sure of where she was going.

The heat was relentless and she didn't know what she was going to do. Not only had it been so long since she was able to roam free outside without having to return to her cold room, but the world wasn't the same as it had been before. Even though the life she lived before her imprisonment she had felt such fear every day, she didn't have the comfort of knowing that there would be someone there to save her. Everyone had turned into the monsters she had known her whole life only this time they were trying to eat her.

A week passed and she was still wandering aimlessly through the swamps. Just when she was beginning to lose hope that there was anyone else out in the world not infected, she heard the loud sound of multiple gunshots. Fear overtook her feeling of relief and she just stood where she was. A few moments of silence passed before she heard one final shot. She took off running in the direction of the gunfire not sure what she would find, but she got all turned around and just found herself going in circles. She spent the next two days hunkered over in a hollowed out tree crying most of the time.

The sound of a snapping twig woke her from her sleep and she choked back a scream when she saw a walker going past her hiding place. She kept quiet as she stood up and raised her weapon firing a single shot to its head. When she was sure it was dead, she walked farther into the forest finding another walker and taking it down. Then she heard a loud thump and ran into who she would later know as Shane, Rick, Andrea, and Daryl.


	4. Chapter 4

Daryl kept his eyes on the ground as Danielle finished up her story. It took him a second to process where she said she had come from and when he did, his eyes met hers. "You were in a looney bin?" he asked causing Danielle to contort her face. She didn't like when people called it that simply because she knew she wasn't really crazy, but she couldn't blame him.

"I'm not crazy." she mumbled running her fingers through her hair and looking away from him. Daryl scoffed rubbing his palms on his jeans. "Why else would they stick you there if you weren't crazier than a sprayed roach?" he replied in a gruff tone. She stared hard at him and he looked shamelessly back at her waiting for an answer. "If you don't tell me why you was in that funny farm, I'll let everyone know we're dealin' with a loon."

Danielle furrowed her brow looking around the tent for any signs that people were around. When she knew for sure that they were the only ones in the conversation, she brought her eyes back to meet Daryl's. "Before the other day, when I thanked you, I hadn't spoken a word since I was thirteen." she muttered. Daryl pursed his lips as he waited for her to continue.

"My father wasn't a nice man." she continued looking at the ground, "My mother wasn't any better. In fact, she helped and supported him."

"What'd they do?" Daryl asked in a low whisper now just as worried if others were listening in.

"What any greedy couple would do to their daughter for money. They sold my body." she bit her bottom lip nervously, "It started when I was eight and ended when I was twenty-five with a knife. For the longest time, I had accepted it as my life. It was just the shitty hand I was dealt. But, one day my mother was so mad at me and she called me a whore. My father was out doing who knows what so there was no one else there to tear me down. The doctors say my psyche finally fractured and went into a protection mode. I grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter and without even blinking, I killed her."

Daryl said nothing but just stared softly at her listening to her tale. He felt the need to leave and tell Rick that they needed to get rid of her, but he sat still waiting for the grim story to end.

"I hid her body and waited for my father to get home. As soon as he came through the door, I jumped on his back and slit his throat." she added fidgeting in her seat, "I don't really remember any of it, but apparently that's how I told it when I was under hypnosis."

"Wait, I thought you ain't talked before the other day." Daryl snapped in frustration looking for any hole in her story.

"Hypnosis doesn't really give you the choice of when you do or don't speak." Danielle clarified. They sat in silence for what seemed like hours before Daryl stood up and stuck his head out the tent door to see if anyone was around. He returned to his seat rubbing his forehead with a sigh.

"Why me? I see you off with that Maggie girl all the time." he mumbled, "Why can't she be the one you're buggin'?"

"All my life, every time I spoke without permission, I was severely punished. So, I stopped talking to avoid it." she explained, "It's not that I'm blocking out the memory of what happened; I have no intention of doing that. I feel safe with you, Daryl. After what you did with the walker, I had never known such peace. People have been treating me like an object all my life, but not you."

She placed her hand over his and rubbed it gently with her thumb. Daryl brought his eyes up to hers not understanding what she was saying to him. He quickly moved his hand from under hers and stood up. "I'll keep your secret loony, but chu just steer clear of me" he said sternly before storming out of the tent. Danielle frowned a little waiting a few seconds to before she went out after him.

"You know how it feels" she hollered after him. He stopped walking and turned to face her, "To be treated like you're nothing. I can tell."

Daryl looked around before walking over to her putting his face just an inch from hers. He held it there for a moment before muttering, "Go to Hell."

The sky was a dark grey colour the next morning. Daryl laid in his cot staring up at the top of his tent as rain droplets began tap lightly on it. Just as he was about to let the sound of the rain lull him back to sleep, he heard Maggie shouting his name. He sat up quickly and put a shirt on before stepping out of his tent and into the rain.

"What?" he grunted. His angry demeanor eased up when he saw how angry Maggie really was.

"What the hell did you say to Dani?" she asked her eyes seeming to look right into his soul. He rubbed the back of his head looking around for any sign of the girl. "Don't bother lookin'. She's not here."

"She ain't here?" he asked taken aback, "Well where the hell did she go?"

"We're guessin' somewhere out in the swamps. She took one of the guns."

Daryl sighed in frustration walking past Maggie to Dale's camper. He grabbed his crossbow and slung it over his shoulder. "Where you goin'?" Dale asked from the front of the vehicle. "To look for Danielle." Daryl answered before walking out back into the rain. When he got to the point where the fields ended and the swamps began, he took in a deep breath and walked in determined to have her back at the house before the day was over.

Small drops of water dripped from the tips of Daryl's hair as he walked cautiously through the trees. With the rain making all sorts of noise, he was never sure if he heard footsteps or leaves taking a pelting from the weather. Danielle's words kept replaying in his mind: _You know how it feels to be treated like you're nothing. _She had confided in him of all people what her family had done to her. A part of him wanted to think that she was just a loon making up stories of events that never really happened, but every time he tried to make himself believe that, he felt guilty about it. Guilt. He had never felt that before. Not until Sophia died at least. He thought that would be the last time, but then _she _had to show up. Not even Merle was enough to make him care so much. Mostly because Merle was one of the people who treated him worse than anyone else in the world. But, he felt a sort of connection with Danielle. Carol had his sympathy, but Danielle had something else. He just wasn't sure what that was yet.

Balls deep in his own thoughts, he almost didn't see someone standing next to a large tree to his right. He looked to see Danielle fidgeting with a piece of cloth seeming to try to get it around her arm.

"Need some help?" he asked softly. Even though Daryl had done his best not to, he made her jump with fright.

"Damn it." Danielle gasped, "You need to stop doing that shit."

Daryl ignored her comment and took the cloth from her tying it over a cut on her arm. "I fell and a broken bottle got me." she mumbled looking at the ground.

"Why'd you leave?" he asked quietly. Danielle brought her eyes back to his and shrugged.

"I knew I wouldn't fit in ther-"

"Don't give me that bullshit." he interrupted, "It's because of how I treated ya."

She averted her eyes again; Daryl took that as a confirmation. "Why would you let someone like me make you leave the farm?" he asked running his fingers through his damp hair. She kept quiet and just shrugged again.

"I like you, Daryl." she finally answered causing Daryl to fidget nervously, "And I can tell you don't like it. You couldn't even stand it when I touched you yesterday."

"I can stan-"

"_You _don't give me that bullshit." she interjected causing Daryl to smile a little, but he was quick to compose himself again. Danielle's damp hair clung to the sides of her face and Daryl couldn't tell if the water on her cheeks was from the rain or tears. Either way, he timidly wiped her cheeks for her; she laughed silently.

"It's raining, genius." she giggled, "My face is just gonna get wet again."

Daryl smiled a little, but his face still had a conflicted look to it. It wasn't until she looked back up that she realized how close he was to her. He slung his crossbow on his shoulder not putting any extra distance between them. A sickening feeling made Daryl's stomach twist and turn as he looked into her eyes. Full of nerves, he leaned down hesitantly and pressed his lips gently on hers.


	5. Chapter 5

The rain stayed longer than anyone had expected. Normally, storms would just roll on by, but this one was on its third day. Danielle opened her eyes slowly to see the light tan colour of the tent. A small smile found its way on her face when she felt Daryl's strong arm wrapped around her. She moved her arms under the warm blankets and snuggled closer to his body trying to escape the cold. It was then that she felt his grip tighten on her.

"Didn't hear ya come in last night." he mumbled.

"I'm sorry" she replied turning over to face him, "I was getting freaked out by all the noise the rain made."

"Don't be sorry," he said quickly. She smiled a little as he kissed her forehead lightly. Never in her life had she met a man so timid to touch a woman, but something about his shyness made her want to be near him even more. She moved herself closer to him resting her head on his shoulder. Daryl let out a sigh and ran his fingers through her hair not really sure what to do at that point.

"I'll go change before the others wake up" Danielle whispered sitting up Daryl's hand now resting on her thigh. He nodded as she leaned down to kiss his lips gently before getting up and walking out of his tent. They weren't ready for everyone else to know about their feelings for one another just yet; it was a mutual understanding they had come to the night before. She hurried to her tent tiptoeing most of the way. It was a good thing she hurried because as soon as she entered her tent, Lori stepped out of hers letting out a silent yawn.

Danielle shivered violently as she took her clothes off. For the first time in months, the temperature cooled down and rain just had to come with it. She hurried to button up her plaid long-sleeved shirt and slung a dark grey zip-up hoodie before stepping out of her tent. Daryl looked around before walking over to her as she pulled the hood up.

"How can you go without sleeves in this cold?" she asked quietly. Daryl let a small smile slip before composing himself again with a shrug. He was about to lean in for another kiss when Shane called Daryl's name.

"They've done ate through the squirrels already." he muttered brushing his hand against hers before he turned to walk over to where Shane was. Danielle sighed and pursed her lips as she watched them vanish into the trees. She didn't like when he went out there; too many things could go wrong. To take her mind off of him, she went with Maggie to check on the horses in the barn.

"So what's goin' on with you and Squirrel Boy?" Maggie asked abruptly. Danielle's cheeks felt hot as she shot her a perplexed look. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talkin' about." Maggie said with a smile, "I've seen the way he looks at you. Glenn gives me the same looks sometimes. He tries to pass it off as 'thinkin' but I know what it's really about."

Danielle smiled a little and shrugged petting a large brown horse on the nose before leaning against the wall. "Just be careful" Maggie mumbled walking over to her, "From what Glenn's told be, Squirrel Boy's got quite the temper."

With that being said, Maggie walked out of the barn and over to Glenn who was waiting patiently by the chicken coop. Danielle watched in envy as she held and kissed each other in full view of the rest of the group. Even though they had agreed that it would be best not to tell anyone about them, she wished she could show people that Daryl was more than just a redneck with a loud mouth only good for hunting and protection. There was a whole other side of him that they didn't seem to know existed and the fact that they thought so little of him made her angry. Just thinking about it made her want to punch someone, mainly T-Dog. She saw how he looked at Daryl like he was no better than the dirt on his shoes. Just as her inner anger was about to get the best of her, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She jumped a little and turned to see Carol standing behind her.

"Sorry if I scared you" Carol said with a laugh. Danielle just smiled and shook her head resting her hand on Carol's forearm. As far as she knew, Carol was the only person to see Daryl the way she did. Carol treated him like he mattered and because of that, she was the only person from the group she respected.

"I was just wondering if you wanted some hot chocolate. Glenn found some mix the last time he went into town." Carol said sweetly. Danielle nodded with a smile and Carol left to go back to the house. Her heart still ached for her loss. From what Daryl had told her, Sophia was a sweet girl. No child deserved to die like that.

The day went by slowly with Danielle's worry for Daryl's safety looming over her. When the rain finally cleared up, she found her way to the roof of the house and sat there staring out into the fields. Everyone else was either inside or out trying to find something productive to do. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even hear someone else join her on the roof.

"What cha doin' up here all by yourself?" she heard Daryl ask as he sat next to her. She said nothing and just linked her arm with his resting her head on his shoulder. They sat in silence for a moment before she finally spoke up.

"I'm tired of them talking shit about you." she mumbled looking up at him, "They treat you like you're not important."

"Well I ain't no Rick." he replied quietly.

"No you're not, but that doesn't mean you're not important."

Daryl just looked down at her not really knowing what to say at that point. Danielle tightened her grip on his arm and scooted closer to him.

"I don't know what you're wantin'." he muttered causing Danielle to let go of his arm instantly.

"I want them to respect you!" she shouted. Daryl held his finger up to shush her but she moved it away. "Don't tell me to be quiet" she whispered angrily, "I'm sick and tired of being quiet. All I ever want to do is scream at them, but I can't and it makes me so angry."

Daryl calmly wiped the tears from her eyes before they had the chance to roll down her pale cheeks. She bit her bottom lip gently and looked away from him. He held her face in his hand and made her look at him.

"The only respect I care 'bout is yours." he said quietly, "As long as I got that, I say to hell with the others."

She smiled a little as he leaned down to kiss her lips gently. He took her hand in his and squeezed it tightly when they heard someone shout, "What the hell?" They looked down to see T-Dog staring up at them.


	6. Chapter 6

"Shit." Daryl mumbled when he locked eyes with T-Dog. He stood up quickly and made his way off of the roof with Danielle close behind him. Just as T-Dog was about to retreat inside, Daryl caught him by the arm.

"Get yo hands off of me" T-Dog said loudly probably trying to get the attention of the rest of the group.

"I will when I get some guarantee that you won't go flappin' your jaw about us." Daryl mumbled with Danielle standing behind him biting on her bottom lip nervously.

"Why?" T-Dog asked with a grin, "She too embarrassed to let everyone know she's bangin' the dirty redneck?"

Danielle took a couple steps toward them before Daryl held a hand up to her. He let T-Dog go leaving both him and Danielle looking bewildered. The two mens' eyes were locked for a moment as if they were having some sort of mental conversation. Finally, T-Dog just let out a gruff breath.

"Fine," he said walking past Daryl to stand between him and Danielle, "I'll keep quiet about it. Only because I know that eventually she's gonna come to her senses and dump your ass. No need to worry the group about somethin' as temporary as this."

When Daryl saw that Danielle was seconds away from slapping T-Dog, he quickly moved over to her taking her hand in his.

"He ain't worth it." he mumbled as a strangely satisfied T-Dog walked away and into the camper. Once T-Dog was out of earshot, Danielle let out a sigh.

"You should've let me hit him." she mumbled angrily.

"If I did, he woulda just gone and squealed on us."

Danielle narrowed her eyes in the direction of the camper in disgust. How could he just stand there and let someone talk about him like that? She folded her arms over her chest and let out a huff. Daryl smiled a little moving her hair from her face for her and rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Why you gotta be so damn cute all riled up?" he asked forcing a smile on her face. Her cheeks flushed a light pink colour making his smile grow just a little. He leaned down to give her a quick peck on the lips, but Danielle snaked her arms around his neck to hold him there longer. In the time they had spent together, they had never shared a kiss that lasted longer than a second. They both felt themselves relax into each others arms as the kiss intensified. Daryl pulled away just a little letting out a shallow breath leaning his forehead against hers. For a moment, they really didn't care if anyone else saw them. At least then they could have more moments like this. But, they both knew it wasn't the time to complicate other people's lives with their relationship. Lord knows T-Dog would just go around talking shit about it. With the death of Sophia still weighing heavily on everyone's shoulders, they just didn't want to make everything worse.

They both quickly moved away from each other. When Lori stepped out of the house hand-in-hand with Rick, Danielle felt her stomach turn at the fact that she wasn't touching Daryl. She let her eyes drift over in his direction only to meet his; she could see he felt the same. With a quiet sigh, she walked into the house knowing he wouldn't be following behind her. _Everything about this is shit _she thought to herself as she helped Carol with the dishes. She rolled her eyes when T-Dog decided to make an appearance.

"Say Carol," he said pleasantly causing Carol to smile over at him, "Don't Daryl seem a bit uppity to you lately?"

"Huh?" was all Carol said; Danielle just narrowed her eyes.

"Usually, he jus' walks aroun' sulkin' 'bout somethin', but now he don't seem so sad."

"Maybe he's finally come to peace about Sophia…" Carol replied silently before going back to the dishes. T-Dog just smiled and nodded a little before walking out of the kitchen to join the rest of the group outside. Once Carol and Danielle finished up with the dishes, they dried their hands off and went outside. Carol took a seat next to Lori and Danielle sat next to Carol which so happened to be across from T-Dog.

"So, Daryl," T-Dog said snidely causing Danielle to stiffen in her seat; Daryl just looked up at him, "you seem a little happier lately."

"Well, ain't that a good thing?" Daryl asked still sitting relaxed in his chair.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm jus' wonderin' why."

"Rain always makes me feel better."

"Rain ain't never stopped you or your brother from bein' hateful before."

With that, Danielle had had enough. She stood up quickly and before anyone could even think of stopping her, she slapped T-Dog as hard as she could on his face. Everything went quiet then.

"I've had enough of you running your mouth about shit you don't know." she said coldly causing anyone who wasn't already shocked to stare blankly at her. She then looked around at everyone. "I want all of you to look at Daryl." she continued causing Daryl's face to go red, "I want you to think about everything he's done for you. The food you ate today was what he hunted for and caught. Now think back. Have you all ever once thanked him? I know the only person who has is Carol. She's the only person here who's really appreciated his dedication to the survival of the group."

Daryl stood up and tried to take her by the hand but she pulled away from him to walk back to T-Dog. "I have it on good faith that he saved your ass once." she muttered, "Yet you still have the audacity to treat him like dirt. He isn't his brother; he's nothing like him and you know it."

With that being said, she stormed off toward the forest with Daryl chasing after her. She heard Shane trying to dissolve the tension with a funny story about him and Rick as she put distance between herself and T-Dog. Once Daryl caught up to her, he grabbed her hand.

"You shouldn'tve done that" he said gruffly, "There ain't no way they don't know about us now-"

"I don't give a shit if they know anymore." she interjected, "I couldn't stand him talking about you like that. Why don't you ever try to prove him wrong?"

"I've done told you I don't give a shit about what they think." he answered angrily, "You're all I care about right now! Don't let 'em get to you."

Danielle sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him into a tight hug. She smiled a little when she felt his arms pull around her waist. "It was pretty hot when you slapped him though" she heard him mumble. A quiet laugh slipped from her as she kissed his neck gently. Even though he didn't think she should have done it, she felt good about slapping the shit out of T-Dog.


	7. Chapter 7: WARNING: ADULT CONTENT

After a week of rain, the forest was back to being hot and sticky. Daryl wiped the sweat from his brow as he made his way through the trees. He had never ventured out without anything to protect himself with and the still quietness of the air didn't make him feel any better about it. Every sound that was made seemed louder than it actually was and it put his teeth on edge. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up when he felt the presence of something not too far from him. Why had he agreed to this? Never in his life had he felt so stupid. His heart rate picked up as he looked around nervously for whomever it was that was stalking him. Suddenly, he heard a twig snap and just as he turned to face his assailant, Danielle quickly pounced on him knocking him to the ground.

"Ha!" she exclaimed sitting comfortably on top of him, "Told you it would be easy. Mr. Outdoorsy McGoo couldn't even see me coming."

"I dunno if that's a good er bad thing" Daryl said with a slight smile as he leaned up to kiss her lips gently. Danielle smiled brightly into his lips kissing him back with a little more force. Soon, the immature side of both of them reared its ugly head eventually leading into a power struggle for kissing dominance. When Danielle resorted to biting his lip, Daryl quickly flipped them over to put himself on top.

"That ain't fair" he said gruffly before kissing her roughly.

"Well I never said I play fair." she whispered with a wide smile wrapping her legs tightly around his waist and pulling his body closer to hers. Daryl let out a muffled chuckle kissing down to her neck making her shiver under him. Just then, they heard the rustling of leaves and footsteps approaching them. It didn't sound like a walker's stagger, so they knew it was someone from the group. He stood up quickly pulling Danielle up with him. They both quickly tried to compose themselves before the person approaching them came into sight; it was Shane.

"What are ya'll doin' out here with no guns?" he asked with a slight grin as if he knew what they were up to. Daryl just walked past him with Danielle following close behind giving Shane a nice pat on the shoulder as she passed. She smiled widely grabbing Daryl's hand as they reached the opening to the farm. Daryl laced his fingers with hers holding her hand tightly when the others came into view. Usually he would have let go instantly and scolded her about how they agreed not to display their affection, but this time was different. Danielle didn't know why he didn't mind it anymore; she didn't really care either.

Ever since she blew up on T-Dog, Danielle felt comfortable with talking around everyone else. Whatever was muting her before was now gone and she couldn't be happier. Even though everyone seemed to know that Daryl and Danielle had some sort of thing going on, they still stared awkwardly at them every time they were together. It was as if they thought Danielle was the last person Daryl would want to be with which made her a bit self conscious. Daryl, on the other hand, thought it was because they thought that he wasn't good enough for Danielle.

"Why they always gawkin' at us?" he mumbled making her laugh a little. Just as she was about to come up with some ridiculous reason, she noticed T-Dog staring too. She stopped walking and looked back at him.

"Shake your head, T-Dog, your eyes are stuck." she said snidely as Daryl pulled her away from the situation.

"I swear you got a shorter temper than me." he said with a laugh letting go of her hand to drape his arm over her shoulders. She smiled a little as she moved her arm around his waist and leaned her head on him.

It was Daryl's turn to take over the watch while Dale went to get something to eat. He sat contently on the camper with a rifle sitting by his side as his eyes scanned the fields. The day was drawing to a close and the sky was turning different shades of red casting an ominous light on the scenery. Daryl shifted uncomfortably where he sat counting the minutes until Glenn came to take over. Still stuck in a paranoid state, when he felt a light tap on his boot, he jumped a little. But, when he looked down to see Danielle offering him a cup of coffee, he was instantly calmed.

"I thought you might want some caffeine for your shift" she said with a slight smile. He nodded smiling a little. As he took a sip from the cup, he patted gently inviting Danielle to join him. She quickly climbed the ladder and sat next to him linking her arm with his.

"The sky looks pretty" she said quietly resting her head on his shoulder; she could feel him shake his head.

"You're pretty" he mumbled, "The sky bein' blood red just ain't right."

"It's only bad if you jinx it" she replied as she kissed his cheek gently, "If you don't think about it, nothing bad will come of it."

"Now I believe whatchu just did was jinxin' it."

She let out a silent giggle snuggling herself closer to him and shaking her head. Soon the crickets began chirping silently in the background and fireflies came into view as they danced across the field. Danielle let out a quiet sigh letting her hazel eyes take in the sight.

"Somethin' wrong?" Daryl asked a little concerned.

"No" she answered still staring out at the field of lights, "It's just weird to me that all of this shit is going on and the crickets and fireflies are going on as if nothing's happened."

"They're stupid bugs" he replied, "They ain't in anymore danger than they was before."

Danielle raised a brow and nodded in agreement leaving Daryl to smile contently to himself as if he had won some sort of big argument. She moved her face up to his and kissed his cheek again causing him to turn his face toward hers. They just sat there for a moment staring at each other as if they were seeing each other for the first time. The moment was immediately cut short when someone cleared their throat. They both looked down to see Glenn standing awkwardly at the base of the camper.

"Here for my shift" he muttered shakily. Danielle smiled brightly down at him as she moved to climb down the ladder with Daryl close behind. Glenn smiled nervously back at her as if one wrong move would result in his ultimate demise. Danielle couldn't blame him for being a little skittish around her after her blow up the week before; she would be walking on eggshells too if she were him.

Daryl held her hand tightly all the way back to her tent while she swung their arms freely through the air. When they reached her tent, she moved her hands around his neck pulling him down into the kiss she had wanted to give him at the camper. He smiled a little against her lips as he snaked his arms around her waist to pull her closer.

"Stay with me tonight" she mumbled playing with the hair on the back of his head. Daryl just nodded a little as she gently pulled him through the open tent door. Danielle took her shoes off and tossed them into a corner as Daryl quickly zipped the door shut. When he sat on her bed set up to take his boots off, she moved behind him and placed her hands gently on his shoulders. She could feel his muscles relax under her touch as she massaged his back and shoulders.

"You're pretty tense" she said with a smile moving her hands from his shoulders to his chest.

"S'pose it's got somethin' to do with the world goin' to shit" he mumbled as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Wanna try forgettin' about that tonight?" she whispered kissing his neck gently. He smiled a little and nodded turning toward her.

"I can do that" he answered before kissing her lips with a little more force than usual. Danielle let out a little squeak of surprise as he gently pushed her back and moved himself on top of her. He chuckled a little at her odd sound moving his hand down to the bottom of her shirt and breaking the kiss to pull it off. At that moment, Danielle was so grateful that it wasn't cold out anymore. She moved her hands to his shirt and quickly unbuttoned it tossing it to the side. Just then, she could feel him getting a little more timid while she kissed him. Not wanting to put him on the spot about it, she just let her hands roam over his body feeling every muscle as it moved under his skin. As soon as they were both completely undressed, Danielle let out a nervous breath.

"You alright?" he mumbled his face close to hers. She smiled nervously and nodded.

"It's just my first time ever doing it willingly" she answered before biting down on her bottom lip.

Daryl's eyes softened as he looked into hers and ran his fingers through her hair. He leaned down and kissed her lips gently making her smile again. She moved her legs around his waist and pulled him down closer. He smirked kissing down to her neck as he slowly moved himself into her. She let out a quiet moan gripping onto his shoulders and gently biting on the nape of his neck.

"Fuck…" she murmured breathlessly as he quickened his pace. She moved her hands to the back of his head pulling him down into a kiss biting on his bottom lip as he pulled away. A small smile pulled at her lips as she tightened her legs around his waist and quickly flipped them over putting herself on top of him. Daryl grinned up at her placing his hands on her hips and massaging them with his thumbs. Danielle's smile widened as she moved her hands to his chest to brace herself while she moved her hips to get him deeper into her. He let out a loud grunt before the slapped her hand over his mouth.

"Can't have the whole camp knowin' what's going on right now" she said with a quiet giggle before leaning down to kiss and bite on his neck gently. He bit on her finger lightly making her move her hand from his face.

"Ain't like it would matter" he mumbled with a grin as he leaned up to kiss down her neck to her breast causing her to throw her head back in pleasure. He moved his hands to her back to pull her closer as he licked and bit gently on her nipple. Even though her parents had sold her off to so many men, she had never been touched the way Daryl was touching her then. He was so gentle like he actually cared if she was enjoying herself. And as she grabbed his face to pull him into another forceful kiss, she discovered that she was actually in love with him.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning seemed to come all too quickly. Danielle knew she was awake, but decided to just lay there with her eyes closed and her arm draped over Daryl's bare chest. It wasn't until she felt his fingers running through her hair that she opened her eyes to look up at him. His eyes were still closed and he was breathing as if he was still sleeping. Moving as slow as she could, she slipped herself out from his grasp. She quickly dressed herself and took a moment to look Daryl over as he slept contently. He seemed so much more at peace then. Normally, he had a sort of perplexed look on his face like he was always trying to sort things out. When she saw him beginning to stir awake, she pursed her lips and hurried out of the tent before he had a chance to see her.

She walked quickly away from the camp area and up to the farm house where she knocked and waited impatiently for someone to answer.

"Come on in" she heard Hershel's strained voice bellow. She hurried to open the door and make her way to the kitchen where she found Hershel reading the same newspaper he had been reading since she got there. "Want some eggs?" Hershel asked pointing to the frying pan on the stove. Danielle smiled a little and nodded before grabbing a plate and putting a small portion of the food on it. She sat quietly in the chair across the table from the old man and began taking small bites of the food not really knowing what to do but eat at that point.

"Heard you blow up the other day" he mumbled putting the paper down, "You hadn't spoken since they brought you here, what made you suddenly speak up?"

"Frustration I guess" she answered with a shrug, "I have some trust issues. That's what usually keeps me from speaking. It was kind of you to allow me to stay, but I still felt a little uneasy about everyone. Daryl was the first person I trusted so he was the first person I spoke to. When I noticed how little everyone appreciated him, I decided to speak up."

Hershel nodded as if he understood what she was talking about, but Danielle was thinking that he wanted to get back to reading the news he had read about a million times before.

"Well, you're talkin' to me now" he muttered catching her off guard, "Guess you're settlin' in."

His words seemed empty of any sentiment like he was disappointed in the fact that she was getting comfortable there. She smiled a little and nodded as she stood up to take her plate to the sink. Maggie made an appearance giving Hershel a light hug before walking over to Danielle.

"Wanna come with me to let the horses get some exercise?" she asked bringing a bright smile to Danielle's face, "I'll take that as a yes. Meet me at the barn ASAP."

Moving quickly, she cleaned her plate and placed it in a cabinet before hurrying out the door and walking briskly to the barn. She glanced toward the campsite to see Daryl emerging from his tent with some fresh clothes. Trying her best to keep him from seeing her, she quickened her pace. It was all in vain, she had caught his eye anyway.

"Dani!" she heard him call. She stopped walking and forced a smile as she looked back in his direction to see him walking toward her.

"Good morning sleepy head" she replied playfully when he neared her.

"You didn't wake me up before ya left"

"Well, I'm helping Maggie with the horses this morning" she said nervously, "And you looked so peaceful, I didn't wanna wake you up just yet."

"Alright, well, I'm takin' Rick huntin' with me today. Don't know when we'll be back." He replied not really sure what to make of her sudden change of demeanor. She just smiled a little and nodded before leaning up to kiss his lips lightly.

"Be safe" she said quietly. He just nodded before kissing her forehead gently and walking back to the campsite where Rick was waiting patiently. Danielle bit on her lip as she turned to walk to the barn. Maggie had already saddled up both horses and was already getting to the point of annoyance when Danielle walked in.

"Sorry" she mumbled taking the reigns of a large brown horse from her. Maggie just raised a brow before mounting her horse; Danielle followed suit.

"I'm still getting used to you talkin'" Maggie said squinting over at Danielle as they walked the horses through the field. Danielle just shrugged.

"Your dad pointed that out this morning as well." She replied with a sigh. She went on to give the same explanation she had given Hershel earlier that morning. When she mentioned Daryl being the first person she trusted, Maggie let out a giggle.

"I knew you were into him. It was written all over your face." She said proudly making Danielle shift uncomfortably in her saddle. "Glenn and I even heard ya'll's little party last night."

Danielle's cheeks turned scarlet as she diverted her eyes. Maggie let out a loud laugh.

"Ya'll weren't exactly quiet about it and your tent ain't too far from the camper." She said through intense giggles, "It took all I had not to jump Glenn's bones ya'll soundin' all pleasured."

That was enough to make Danielle laugh nervously. She had been the one to try and keep Daryl from making too much noise and forgot to silence herself. Maggie shrugged still laughing at the situation.

"Guess he's pretty good in the hay." Maggie added with a wink. Danielle smiled a little and nodded before adding in, "Hell yeah."

They made one more circle around the field before taking the horses back to the barn to wash them down. Once the horses were safely back in their stalls, Maggie went off to help tend to the chickens and Danielle went to see if Lori and Carol needed help with anything. Most of the day was spent doing the laundry and trying to push the worry for Daryl in the back of her mind.

The feelings she had felt for him were wonderful in the moment, but now scared her. This fear wasn't like any other she had experienced before in her life. It wasn't a fear of any sort of physical pain but something much deeper. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she just knew that his feelings for her were not so strong. Daryl didn't seem like the type to settle down so easily especially with someone he had only known for a few weeks. When she made the choice to ask him to stay the night and when she chose to have sex with him, she thought it would be like any other time she had done it. She would wake up in the morning feeling empty of any sort of emotion and would be able to walk away from it, but that wasn't the case. She wanted to wake up in his arms every morning for as long as she could. Daryl Dixon was not a touchy feely guy. Deep down, he was still a hard as shit man who did what and who he wanted. Why would he waste any more of his time on the girl from the funny farm?

These thoughts made it difficult for her to concentrate on anything she was doing. She didn't even notice when Daryl and Rick had returned with a good sized buck. Rick had an extreme look of triumph on his face when they brought it to the campsite for everyone to see and Daryl had the same stern look on his. As soon as Danielle noticed Daryl's return, she quickly retreated behind the house not knowing what to do when he finally spoke to her. Word vomit was the worst things to ever plague her and she was afraid it would happen this time. She heard his hard footsteps as he stormed to where she stood.

"Why are you avoidin' me?" he asked sternly not exactly at the angry level yet. Danielle couldn't bring herself to act like she didn't know what he was talking about which made him a little more irritated. "I can't believe this" he mumbled.

"Believe what?" she asked genuinely curious.

"T-Dog was right." He answered looking at the ground and then back at her, "You're already through with me."

Danielle shook her head a little biting on her lip to hold back what she was going to say.

"Don't you shake your head at me. You ain't talked to me for more than five minutes today. Then I come back from my hunt and you just run off like a scared cat."

"Daryl, I—", she was cut off when he shook his head and walked away. She stood there frozen for a moment trying to process what had just happened. This whole time, she had been worrying that he would be the one to hurt her, but she was realizing that it was the other way around. Now she had to try to find some way to get him to hear her out. She sat on the pile of firewood behind her and held her head in her hands as she thought it through.

Two days passed and Daryl still hadn't spoken a word to Danielle. Even though everyone could sense the tension between the two, they really had no room to complain since Daryl's extra hunting trips were bringing in more squirrels than usual. While Daryl was dealing with the issue with the killing of small animals, Danielle had a little more trouble with taking her mind off of it. Every time she found something to do, she would always see Daryl out of the corner of her eye. She eventually just went into the barn and sat in the loft away from everyone including him.

She jumped a little when she heard someone coming up the ladder only to look and see Andrea joining her. Andrea's usually cold blue eyes had a bit of warmth to them as she took a seat opposite of Danielle.

"Trouble in paradise?" Andrea asked with a humourless smile. Danielle just nodded with a silent sigh. "Well, I'm no expert on psychology, but I think it's safe to say he's just as torn up about it" she added while Danielle stared out the window where Daryl usually took his kills for skinning; he wasn't there.

"He thinks that he doesn't mean anything to me, but he's wrong." She whispered before looking over at Andrea.

"Then get off your sorry ass and tell him." Andrea replied with a smile before leaving Danielle to her thoughts. Once she was sure she was alone again, Danielle let slip the tears that she had felt forming when Andrea was talking to her.

Meanwhile, Daryl had decided to take on the task of showing Carl how to gut a squirrel. The boy had been asking him to for a while and he had always just brushed him off, but this was something to keep his mind busy. Carl was just about to stick the knife into the squirrels belly when Lori snatched it out of his hand.

"Carl, go see what your dad's doin'. Now." She said sternly and Carl walked off in a huff, "What the hell are you doin' Daryl?"

"What?" Daryl asked a little annoyed, "I was the boy's age when Merle taught me how to do it."

"Well it ain't your call to make whether or not Carl is ready" was all she replied before storming away. Leaving Daryl to roll his eyes at how sheltering she was being.

"Merle isn't really someone to be taking parenting tips from" Danielle's voice rang from behind him. Letting out a gruff sigh, he turned to face her only to push past her to get to his tent. "You could at least talk to me."

"There ain't nothin' to talk about" he replied pulling his knife out from the trunk of a tree before turning to face her again, "I've dealt with a lotta shit in my life, Dani. Normally, I ain't someone to get all wrapped up in a woman and with the world goin' to hell around me, I ain't about to start now. A few days ago, I woulda done anythin' for ya. But—"

"I love you" Danielle blurted cutting him off. Daryl's face contorted into the all too familiar puzzled look as if he didn't really know what to do with this new bit of information.

"Don't say that" he muttered shaking his head and looking at the ground.

"Why not?"

"Because ya don't mean it."

"Yes, I do!" she shouted causing him to grab her by the arm to pull her away from the campsite and out of earshot of the others.

"Ya don't mean it, Dani" he repeated, "If ya did…love me, what was with the shit the other day?"

"I was scared."

"Why?"

"Because love is not something I have not had any luck with, Daryl." She spat angrily, "The people who were supposed to love me were the people who treated me like I was nothing all my life. For the longest time, I had no idea what it felt like to be loved or to love someone else. Then I met you and you scare me more than anyone has ever scared me before."

Daryl narrowed his eyes and just mumbled, "Why?"

"The feelings I have for you are nothing like I've ever felt before" she admitted sheepishly, "That means you're the one person in the world who can really hurt me right now. I mean really hurt me. And it's scary."

There was another long moment of silence before Danielle decided to just walk away. Just as she was turning away from him, she felt him grab her hand and lace his fingers with hers. She turned back to him blinking back her tears trying not to seem too weak in front of him.

"I-I love you, too" he muttered his blue eyes locked on hers. A small smile pulled at her lips as he pulled her close to him and kissed her lips gently. For the first time in both of their lives, they felt complete.


	9. Chapter 9

Being open about her relationship with Daryl made Danielle feel much better about being around everyone else. Not having to lie to them anymore seemed to cause a better bond between her and the others. Even T-Dog seemed to be getting along better with her. If he was still talking bad about Daryl, it wasn't around her and that was just fine in her eyes. Daryl even seemed to have a better attitude toward everyone. He apologized to Lori for trying to teach Carl how to gut a squirrel without her consent. Though she was surprised by it, Lori gladly accepted it and told him that it was okay with her if he wanted to try it again. Needless to say, Carl spent a lot of time helping Daryl and the other men skin the kills Daryl brought in. His first deer brought him a lot of joy which worried Danielle a little, but just made Daryl laugh hysterically. That night, he had enthralled her with stories of all the firsts he shared with his older brother, Merle.

Daryl didn't really talk much about Merle, but when he did, Danielle noticed it was only all of the good things he had done for Daryl in his life. They were few in number, but still brought a smile to Daryl's face when he spoke of them. She didn't dare ask about Merle's other traits; she knew that was a touchy subject. It wasn't until she really thought about it that she realized that she had been doing the same thing when it came to her family. All she would speak of when it came to them was all the good stuff that happened in her childhood. Most of the stories just involved her older cousin, Rosalinda. Daryl, when it came to Rosalinda, held the same anxiety that Danielle had with Merle. He wanted to know what had happened to her, but didn't want to ask for fear of pushing some sort of button. He didn't even ask anymore about the night she had supposedly killed her parents. Every time he thought of it, he used the word "supposedly" because after getting to know her, he didn't think Danielle was capable of killing anyone. He didn't know much about mental institutions, but he did know that people who have committed such brutal crimes wouldn't be able to escape the wards so easily. Merle had given him a taste of what it was like to know a complete psychopath and every night, when he watched Danielle sleeping peacefully in his arms, he knew that wasn't her. She didn't belong in that institute and he knew that someone else had committed that crime. Even if he had to wait years (if they lived that long), he was going to find out who it was she was covering for.

When these thoughts entered his mind, Daryl thought back to the day that Danielle had confided in him about her past. He thought about how he had treated her in an attempt to distance himself from her. As soon as he remembered that day, he would get a strange aching in his chest he had never felt before that would make him immediately think of something else.

"What's wrong?" Danielle asked interrupting Daryl's thoughts. She was sitting Indian style across from him munching on an apple happily while his stayed untouched in his hand.

"Nothin'. Just thinkin' 'bout stuff." He answered before taking a bite of his apple scrunching his face at how sweet it was.

"Yeah, I prefer the red ones myself" Danielle said with a smile deliberately ignoring the fact that something was on his mind. She figured that if it was important enough, he would eventually spill it to her later. If not, she would just bug him until he did.

"How do you do that?" he asked making her tilt her head curiously.

"Do what?"

"Smile like nothin's wrong. The world's gone to shit and you're wishin' for a red apple."

Danielle's smile did nothing but grow wider at his observation. She shrugged a little and took another bite of the bright green apple chewing it relentlessly as she looking up at the sky in wonder.

"There's always somethin' to smile about. Even when everything seems to be crashing down all around you." She finally answered still looking up at the clear sky.

"What could you possibly have to smile about right now?" he asked a little annoyed with her optimism.

Her smile hadn't faded when she looked at him again and answered, "I have you."

Daryl didn't know what else to do when she said that other than to lean over to her and kiss her lips gently. It hadn't occurred to him that he was enough to make her feel happy in such a shithole of a situation. He grabbed her arm and gently pulled her into his lap; she went without protest. Danielle leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes for a moment. Daryl always held her like she was made of glass and might break if he made the wrong move. Even so, somehow the way he held her was just right. She felt very secure when she was in his arms like nothing could ever hurt her as long as he was touching her. Daryl could feel her body begin to relax and he knew she was falling asleep. Danielle's eyes were just about to close completely when she heard Shane's panicked voice coming from the forest edge right behind them.

"C'mon guys." He said a little out of breath, "We gotta get away from the trees and on the house roof now."

"Why?" Daryl demanded with a scoff.

"Walkers."

That one word alone was enough to make Danielle's whole body go rigid and made Daryl shake her as if he didn't know she was awake. She looked up at him with eyes filled with terror.

"Don't worry" Daryl muttered as he stood up and pulled her up with him, "There was just too many of 'em for Shane to handle on his own. We'll be able to snipe 'em out in no time. If Andrea's aim is any better."

Even with Daryl's reassurance, Danielle was still petrified. Daryl held her hand tightly as they ran toward the house. It seemed as though Shane had already gotten the word out because everyone was already piling onto the roof. Daryl and Danielle were quick to join them.

"How many?" Rick asked worried.

"I stopped counting and ran for it after ten." Shane answered sending a cold feeling through the bodies of everyone around. Danielle could already feel the sharp pain of someone ripping into her flesh and the heartache of possibly having to watch Daryl suffer too. Dale, who had control over the binoculars, let out a loud gasp at what he saw. He looked over to see everyone waiting anxiously to hear what he had seen.

"It's a…herd" he managed to stammer before handing the binoculars off to Rick who looked through them and immediately showed signs of being sick to his stomach. Hershel let out a gruff sigh making everyone look in his direction.

"Never, since this whole thing started, have we had so many of them show up on the farm." He said sternly. Glenn looked as if he was so deep in thought that he hadn't notice Maggie clinging onto him for dear life. Then the light of a revelation appeared in his eyes.

"The barn" he said catching everyone off guard.

"What about it?" Daryl asked making Danielle jump. He immediately squeezed her hand as if to tell her to calm down.

"When we were in Atlanta trying to find a way out, we figured that making ourselves smell like the geeks would get us past them." He explained for anyone who didn't know about the incident, "It worked until the rain washed it away. The barn was full of walkers making the rest of the area smell like them. When we got rid of them all, the smell must have gone away not too long after. Making it smell as if the living are here."

Hershel immediately held his head in his hands and mumbled about how he told them not to kill the people in the barn. While Glenn's sudden realization let everyone know why the walkers were there, it didn't give any means of getting them to go away. When everyone looked up to see the walkers getting closer, everyone able to bear arms readied themselves. Even Danielle held her handgun tightly and aimed even though she wasn't sure if she could hit anything with the way her hand was trembling. She even began planning what she should do if she knew she was going to die.


	10. Chapter 10

It seemed as though time itself was standing still. The only sound that could be heard was the grass rustling under the staggering footsteps of the approaching walkers. Everyone seemed to have restricted their breathing to be as shallow as they could. For a moment, Danielle's eyes were blurred with fearful tears as she held her gun as steady as she could. Daryl, wanted to consol her, shifted nervously where he sat reaching his hand over to caress Danielle's any moment he could.

The next few seconds felt like the longest hours to the group as they waited for the walkers to come into range. Suddenly, a loud shot rang in the air and the loud thud of a body hitting the ground followed soon after. Everyone's eyes moved to find that Hershel had fired the first shot. When he looked around to see everyone staring at him their mouths agape, he scoffed.

"They already know we're here" he mumbled lifting the gun up, "We gotta get 'em while we can."

With that being said, everyone else readied themselves and began to fire upon the herd. One by one, the walkers fell dead on the ground. Danielle had fired a fair few shots, but wasn't sure if she had even hit anything; she was better at short range fire. Daryl, however, had no trouble with making headshot after headshot. A couple times he stopped to see how Danielle was doing only to see her firing blindly into the field. Only one walker was left and it was closer to Danielle's side of the roof.

"You can do it" Daryl mumbled patting her on the shoulder gently. She took the rifle from him and peered through the scope. Just as she slowly inhaled and held her breath, the walker went down.

"Great shot" she heard Andrea shout. Danielle looked at Daryl with bewildered eyes.

"I haven't pulled the trigger" she replied making everyone stare out into the field curiously. Seconds passed and the phantom shooter still hadn't made their presence known. No other walkers appeared either. Then, just as everyone was getting ready to move off of the roof, someone stepped out from the trees. Danielle raised the scope to see if it was another walker, but instead of taking a shot, she let out a gasp of air and passed the gun off to Daryl. Before anyone could ask her what was wrong, she was off the roof and running toward the person. She seemed to have run with the speed of a cheetah, because in seconds, she was standing just a few feet away from a tall young woman with the same complexion and hair as herself; the only difference was a pair of pale blue eyes.

"R-Rosie?" Danielle stammered her heart racing. The girl looked at her with pursed lips seeming to be fighting back tears as she nodded. It was then that she realized that Rosalinda was the one the herd was following.

"I went to the hospital and you weren't there" Rose finally replied choking back her emotions, "I thought you were dead…"

Danielle quickly cut her off with a tight hug not really knowing what else to do. Rose wrapped her arms tightly around Danielle showing no signs of letting her go. All Danielle could hear was her muffled voice saying something about being sorry and wishing she had been around more for her. She just shook her head and pulled away from the hug holding her cousin's face in her hands.

"Don't apologize for anything" she said with a slight smile hoping it would cheer her up, "You saved me and that's all that matters. And now we don't have to worry about anyone hurting us anymore."

"Except the ravenous freaks that were just chasing me" Rose added with a humourless laugh. Danielle smiled and nodded in agreement before finally looking back at the house. Everyone else was walking out to gather the bodies and Daryl seemed conflicted about what he should do. He looked like he wanted to see who the person was who got Danielle all worked up, but he knew he needed to help gather the bodies and stick them in the barn.

"We should probably help with the bodies" Danielle mumbled looking down at the walker Rose had taken out. She looked over at Daryl and whistled waving him over when he looked.

"Great whistle" Rose said sounding impressed.

"Daryl taught me" Danielle said with a grin. Just then, Daryl appeared next to her looking a little more than confused.

"What're we doing with the bodies?" Danielle asked bringing his attention back to her.

"Oh, Glenn suggested puttin' 'em in the barn to keep the smell up so the others stay clear of here." He answered nodding his head toward the barn Hershel had kept the other walkers in. Danielle nodded before Daryl hurried off to help Shane carry a large walker into the barn.

"Well, he's cute" muttered Rose with a not-so-subtle wink making Danielle turn red and shift her weight nervously. She just nodded and moved to grab onto the walker's feet. Rose took the cue and gingerly grabbed it by its worn out jacket and they struggled to carry it over to the barn.

"Holy hell" Rose said suddenly as they set the walker on the floor of the barn, "I just realized you've been talking! When did that start?"

Danielle just shrugged and smiled mumbling, "Just started one day."

Rosalinda could see that she was holding back the details, but decided to wait until later to push for it. They were both happy to see each other, but, even though Rose had done a lot of good for her, Danielle always felt a little uneasy when Rose was around people she didn't know. She had a tendency to make a fool of both Danielle and herself.

It took about an hour, but eventually all of the bodies were piled in the barn. Shane and Rick had gone around sticking pickaxes in their heads to make sure the job was completely done. Danielle introduced Rose to everyone except Daryl who was just locking up the barn. Everyone was gathered around the fire listening to stories each person had to exchange. Rose was the one everyone really paid attention to since they knew for sure that they hadn't heard her stories before. It wasn't long before Daryl joined in taking a seat next to Danielle. Danielle's smile widened as she linked her arm with his and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Oh—my—god" Rose said with a wide grin, "You've found yourself a fuck buddy!"

Daryl and Danielle both flushed a deep red and looked anywhere but at the face staring blankly at them.

"Rosie, I think it's time for you to go to sleep." Danielle muttered clutching onto Daryl's arm tightly. Normally she would have protested, but Rosalinda felt a big yawn swell up inside her making her realize that Danielle was right.

"True that" Rose smiled standing up.

"You can have the bed in the camper" Dale said quickly, "I have watch duty tonight."

Rosalinda smiled at him and nodded making her way to the large camper and stepping inside. When she was gone, everyone looked at Danielle making her blush turn a deeper red.

"I'm ready for bed, too." She mumbled slipping out of Daryl's grip and walking to her tent. Daryl sat there for a moment before deciding to follow her. He walked into the tent to find her already under the covers and staring blankly with a pouting look on her face.

"What's the matter?" he asked climbing in next to her. She moved herself closer to him and rested her head on his lap looking up at him.

"I love her so much and I'm so happy that she's okay" she whispered as he ran his fingers through her hair, "But, she did what she always does. Even with the world being the way it is, she still managed to find time to embarrass the shit out of me."

Daryl tried to hold it in but couldn't help his laughter. Danielle sat up quickly and looked angrily at him waiting for him to explain himself.

"I'm sorry" he mumbled trying to keeping himself from laughing anymore, "I was embarrassed too, but it's nothin' to get all worked up over."

Danielle just sat there for a moment looking down at her lap feeling bad for getting even a little upset with him. Then she just looked at him and nodded moving to sit in his lap.

"You're right" she mumbled into his chest. She just felt his chest moving up and down with his quiet chuckles. She looked up at him and moved her hand to the back of his head pulling his face down closer to hers.

"Stop laughing at me" she said quietly trying to sound angry with him. Daryl just raised his brows mockingly as he leaned his forehead on hers. She just smiled a little and quickly pulled his face to hers and kissed his lips roughly. Daryl was just moving himself over her when they heard the panicked voice of Glenn getting closer to the tent.

"Not now…" Daryl mumbled gruffly moving off of her and out of the tent to talk to him. Seconds later, he stuck his head back in and whispered, "You might wanna get out here."

Danielle rolled her eyes just knowing it had something to do with Rosalinda; she was right. She walked out to see everyone staring nervously at her. Everyone except Dale who was staring angrily and was holding something in his hand that made her stomach turn. Rosalinda was leaning against the camper rolling her eyes at Danielle's expression.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Danielle said through gritted teeth.

"It's just a bit of weed" Rosalinda replied trying to reach for the multicoloured glass bong Dale was holding. Danielle slapped her hands down.

"I didn't mind this shit before" Danielle whispered, "but now there are infected people out there trying to kill us. They don't sleep. They never stop. You can't be stoned with the possibility of an attack always lingering in the air."

"Oh little miss goody two shoes Dani. Never does _anything _wrong. Always the fucking victim." Rose shouted in slurred words letting everyone already know she was stoned. With that, Danielle grabbed the bong from Dale and smashed it against a tree sending broken glass and dirty bong water flying through the air.

"You're gonna get back in that fucking camper and go to sleep." Danielle muttered as close to her cousin's face as possible, "Maybe you'll feel differently about what's happened tonight when you're good and sober in the morning."

She walked away quickly with Daryl following close behind. Everyone else sat in stunned silence as Rosalinda retreated back into the camper. When they were in their tent, Danielle sat back on the blankets and held her head in her hands. Daryl was quick to sit behind her and pull her into his lap again.

"I shouldn't get so angry with her so easily" she mumbled leaning her head against his chest. Daryl's face contorted with confusion.

"That's twice tonight she's gone and embarrassed you" he replied rubbing her arm gently, "You got every right to be mad."

"But, she's helped me so much" she sniffled, "She saved me."

He wanted to know more about what she had just said, but he knew that she had been through too much for her to explain anything else about her cousin to him. All he could think to do was comfort her and he felt he had succeeded with that when he saw that she had fallen asleep in his arms.


	11. Chapter 11

Danielle always hated the way she felt after falling asleep crying. Her eyes always felt sore and it took forever for them to open when she woke up. Worst of all was how red and puffy her face looked. The fact that Daryl would be there to witness it made her dread lifting her face up from her pillow.

"Don't shoot" she mumbled when she felt him stir awake. All she heard was a gruff "huh" in her ear. His arm was draped heavily over her and she let out a loud sigh. "I may look like a very puffy and red walker this morning" she added, "So, don't shoot."

He said nothing but laughed quietly into her neck before she turned to face him. She didn't dare open her eyes and just mumbled, "How bad is it?"

"Right now you're just pretty" he muttered moving her hair from her face, "If you'd lemme see them eyes, you'll be you're beautiful self."

Danielle furrowed her brow and rolled her eyes under their lids before opening them to look at him.

"Bullshit." She replied making him smile a little.

"You callin' me a liar?" he asked playfully. He placed his hand on her cheek and moved his face closer to hers. Danielle just nodded and let out a little "mhm" before closing the gap between them with a kiss. She felt him smiling against the kiss as he bit on her bottom lip gently. With a quiet laugh, she moved herself on top of him and stared down at him hungrily.

"I see even the puffy morning look gets you going" she grinned holding her hands against his chest.

"I've done told you that you look just fine" he mumbled pulling her down to another forceful kiss running his tongue along her bottom lip. She smiled a little opening her mouth to him and letting him slip his tongue in to explore it. When she saw Carl's silhouette pass by their tent out of the corner of her eye, she laughed a little and pulled out of the kiss.

"There are innocent ears in the area" she mumbled leaning her forehead on his, "And Maggie pointed out to me not long ago that even when we're trying to be quiet, we're not."

Daryl couldn't help but laugh loudly at the last bit of her comment.

"You were the on makin' all the noise" he said moving his fingers through her hair, "Spent so much time tryin' to shut me up, you forgot to do it yourself."

Danielle scoffed and slapped his chest gently before sitting up and reaching into her bag for something to wear. She got up off of him and took her shirt off quickly.

"Well, don't move too fast" Daryl said with a joking grin, "Take it slow. If I can't have a mornin' treat, I at least wanna watch what I can't touch."

She just rolled her eyes and slipped her jeans off leaving herself standing in front of him in her black bra and panty set. When she felt his eyes still glued on her, she decided to bend over slowly to grab her fresh shirt. Daryl knew instantly what she was trying to do and he was having none of it.

"Get over here" he said gruffly as he reached up and pulled her back down onto the bed. She let out a squeal when he laid her down and held himself over her. "None of this teasin'" he smiled kissing her neck gently, "Now, we gotta get dressed and see what needs gettin' done 'round here."

Danielle grinned and nodded before kissing his lips gently one last time before getting ready for the day. They both exited the tent to an instant feeling of awkwardness lingering in the air. Danielle looked up to see Rosalinda doing what looked like one of her apology speeches for Dale. Even though she knew her cousin didn't mean a word of whatever she said, it looked as though Dale was buying it. Normally, she would call her out on it, but they didn't need the extra drama. It wasn't until Rose walked over to her and Daryl that she finally spoke.

"We're fine" she mumbled not even wanting to hear a well rehearsed speech, "Just don't pull shit like that anymore."

Rosalinda just pursed her lips and nodded before walking past them to talk to Lori who had been upset with her for using profanity in front of Carl.

"You didn't even give her a chance to say sorry" Daryl said quietly as they walked toward the house for some breakfast."

"I've heard the speech before with a few minor differences to fit the situation" she replied knocking on the door and waiting for Hershel's approval to go in. When he finally bellowed for them to enter, Daryl opened the door for her and walked in after she had.

"Thought you felt like you owed her or somethin' like that"

"I did" she mumbled looking at the ground, "but after last night and after meeting you, I realized that it takes a lot more than what she did to show that you really care for someone."

"You ever gonna talk about what she did?" he asked hopefully.

"Give it time, Daryl." Was all she said, but it was enough to get him to shut up.

There wasn't much to be done around the farm except feed the animals and keep watch for any other passing walker herds. With everyone still recuperating after the day before, no one was really useful at all; especially Hershel. It seemed as though finally killing walkers for himself had hit him hard. A month before, it was no secret that everyone would wonder why he was so reserved about killing them, but after Sophia, everyone just kept their mouths shut about it. Daryl was just focused on how he would often catch Danielle looking nervously at Rosalinda. Sometimes, he would try talking to her, but she was too focused on her cousin to even notice that he was speaking. He also saw that she would only do it when Rose went off with someone alone. At one point, she began pacing when she thought Rose had been gone with Lori for too long in the camper. He had in itch to pull her aside and talk to her about it, but with how reserved she had been acting lately, he didn't want to risk upsetting her.

"It's great that you found Rose" Daryl mumbled draping his arm over Danielle's shoulder.

"Yeah," she replied leaning her head against him, "she's more like a sister to me than a cousin. I'm just worried that, after last night, she's gonna have some issues fitting in with the group."

She felt him shrug and looked up to see him looking back at her. He leaned down to kiss her forehead gently; it was easy to tell that he had something on his mind.

"What's wrong?" she asked with a sigh wrapping her arm around his waist. Daryl pursed his lips wondering if he should bring it up. When he saw the look in her eyes, he knew that she was just going to pry it out of him eventually.

"I know you love her and all" he said cautiously, "but ever since she showed up, you've been actin' all bothered."

"I am not"

"Don't even play that. It's one thing not to wanna talk about it, but don't lie to me."

"Fine," she mumbled letting go of him, "I don't wanna talk about it."

She moved out from under his arm and walked over to where Rosalinda was helping Carl with his spelling work. Danielle sat in one of the fold-out chairs and smiled down at the boy.

"Carl, I think your mom was looking for you" she lied sending the boy off. Rosalinda smiled brightly at her taking a seat across from Danielle.

"Isn't it stupid that Lori makes that poor boy do homework when all the world's gone to hell?" she laughed, "Who does that?"

Danielle smiled a little and shrugged before replying, "Maybe she wants to keep his mind as strong in case a cure is found and everything goes back to being as normal as possible."

Rose just shrugged and took a drink from her glass of water while fanning herself with Carl's homework.

"I know I said we're okay" Danielle added making Rose roll her eyes, "but I still need to talk to you about something."

"Shoot."

"Well, you've seen what it's like out there. Daryl and his group have seen the worst of it in Atlanta." She said glancing over at Daryl who was now getting ready for another hunting trip, "We need them. There is strength in numbers. What happened last night just can't happen again. If you do something to piss them off and send you packing, I don't know what I'll do…"

"How about come with me?" Rose cut her off angrily, "I'm your fucking family. While Mr. Hunter Man is hot, I'm blood. I have always been there for you. Where was he when you were at your worse? Does he even know where you came here from?"

"Yeah actually he does" Danielle replied furrowing her brow, "I told him pretty much as soon as I met him. Rosie, you can't act this way, not now. Do you have your medication?"

"What the fuck do you think? Oh, I can just waltz into a pharmacy and find it now?" Rose laughed humourlessly, "Not only has everyone raided pretty much every pharmacy for that shit, I'm out of what I had before all this went down. You have no idea how hard it is for me to act normal right now."

"I know it's hard, but you can't lose it now."

Rosalinda just stood up shaking her head and walking away as fast as she could leaving Danielle holding her head in her hands; she seemed to be doing that a lot lately. When she heard someone sit across from her, she didn't bother looking up.

"Go away Daryl" she mumbled.

"Daryl's been gone for about ten minutes now" she heard Shane answer. She looked up quickly flashing an embarrassed smile. Shane grinned back at her before continuing, "I wanted to talk to you about Rose."

Danielle pursed her lips and nodded as she had seen this coming. Although, she kind of figured Rick would be the one to bring it to her attention.

"I know what's wrong with her" Shane added, "Keepin' someone like her around ain't safe and you know it."

"What do you expect me to do?" she asked, "She's my cousin."

"I understand that, but you have to see it from my point-of-view."

"You don't think I feel uneasy about the whole situation?"

"I know you do" he sighed, "I'm just wonderin' if it would be good for the group to kno-"

"No" she cut him off, "Then they will just wanna throw her back out there and I don't wanna have to choose between going with her and staying here with Daryl."

"We both know what Daryl would do if that happened."

"Exactly and I don't want to endanger his life, too." She sighed, "When I first saw her, I was just happy to know she was alive, but now that the reality has set in about her not having any meds, I wish she had just wandered somewhere else."

Danielle quickly stopped talking and pursed her lips again when she saw Daryl emerge from the trees with more squirrels on his rope. She stood up quickly and looked down at Shane.

"We'll talk more about it later" she whispered, "Until then, just keep it quiet."

Shane nodded as he watched her walk away. He knew he had to tell someone and walked immediately to where he expected Rick to be. As Danielle neared Daryl, she smiled brightly at him.

"Bringing us another bountiful feast I see"

"Oh yeah" he grumbled setting his crossbow down and hanging the squirrel corpses on a tree branch. Once his hands were free, he quickly took her hand in his and started walking toward their tent.

"What're wanting to do now?" she asked with a small smile.

"I've been out in the heat huntin' damn squirrels." He mumbled as they neared the tent, "I wanna take a nap."

"Oh?" she laughed, "I don't remember volunteering to join you."

"That's because you're bein' voluntold to."

Danielle let out a semi-loud laugh as he pulled her into the tent after him. Not even taking time to pull his shoes off, Daryl fell into bed leaving Danielle to smile down at him.

"You're lucky I love you so much" she mumbled sitting down at his feet and pulling his boots off for him, "Otherwise, I would just walk out once you're sleepin'"

"No need to tell me how lucky I am" he replied holding his arm up. She smiled and crawled next to him resting her back against him and letting him drape his arm over her. Feeling his breath on the back of her neck, she snuggled herself closer to him. Even though she didn't feel the least bit tired, she felt her eyes drooping. The last thing she remembered hearing before falling asleep was Daryl's muffled voice saying, "I love you."


	12. Chapter 12

Two weeks had gone by since the herd incident; everyone was beginning to get back to normal. The only person who seemed to be having trouble was Danielle. Every time Daryl saw her, she looked as though she had the weight of the world on her shoulders and she wasn't about to share it. It eventually got to where whatever was bothering her was affecting her sleep. He would wake up to find that she had moved her way out of his arms and was curled up away from him. Eventually, she would get out of bed and sit outside. Sometimes he would wake up as soon as she left and sometimes he wouldn't come to until she was already outside. Knowing better than to wake a sleepwalker, he would just coax her back to bed where she would sleep silently as if nothing had happened. He had tried letting her tell him, but it was getting out of hand and he wanted to find out what was wrong.

It seemed as though Danielle knew his questioning was coming, because every where he went, she would leave soon after. When he knew she was feeding the horses, he waited patiently outside for her to exit. As soon as she walked out of the barn, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her behind it. Before she had time to speak, he held his hand up to silence her.

"You've got somethin' on your mind that's been botherin' you somethin' terrible and I wanna know what it is." he mumbled trying to make it difficult for anyone to overhear.

"I don't know wha-"

"Don't lie to me" he interjected, "You haven't got a lick of sleep in a week. I wake up, and you're sleep walkin' outside."

From the look on Danielle's truly puzzled face, he knew she wasn't aware of her altered sleeping habits. She let out a quiet sigh looking around to see if anyone was close enough to hear.

"I wanted to tell you the truth as soon as I opened up to you" she finally said making Daryl tilt his head.

"Truth 'bout what?"

"About what happened with my parents."

Daryl stepped away from her shaking his head and rubbing his brow with his fingers.

"You lied?" he asked trying to swallow his anger but was failing miserably.

"Not about what they did" she answered quickly, "About what happened to them."

There was a still silence for a long moment. The subject of her parents' demise was a touchy subject for both of them. Daryl was still struggling with the fact that she had admitted to something so heinous and Danielle was crippling under the weight of the truth. When he shot her a look of curiosity, she decided it was okay to continue.

"I-I didn't kill them" she stammered looking at the ground and blinking back tears. Daryl breathed a sigh of relief at the news. At that point, he didn't care who did it as long as it wasn't her. It wasn't until he really saw the pain in her eyes that he knew something was really wrong. He walked over to her leaning his face down to hers and mumbled, "Who did it?"

Danielle rested her forehead on his taking his hand in hers and playing with his calloused fingers. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before looking him in the eyes and whispering, "Rosie."

Daryl backed up and looked at her hard. He shook his head looking over to see Rosalinda playing "Catch-the-Egg" with Carl.

"You don't know her, Daryl." Danielle pleaded when she saw the disbelief on his face, "She's not well."

"She crazy or somethin'?" he asked still looking nervously in Rose's direction. When she looked back at him and waved, he quickly looked away from her. Danielle still hadn't answered, instead she pursed her lips and looked away. He groaned loudly and held his head in his hands.

"Is she a threat?" he finally asked looking at her. Danielle shook her head.

"I don't think so" she answered, "Shane knows about her condition and he's been keeping an eye on her."

"You told Shane before me?"

"No, no. He figured it out on his own. He approached me about it."

"And you didn't feel the need to tell me about it until I made you?"

She looked away and ran her fingers through her hair.

"I don't trust people easy" he muttered, "You were the one person I never expected to keep a secret from me. Especially somethin' this big. Somethin' that could endanger the whole group."

"I just-" she stopped talking as soon as he raised his hand to her again.

"We're done." was all he said before he walked away. Danielle took in a deep breath and looked over where Rose was to see her staring back. She looked away and walked toward the house. Passing Daryl on the way was one of the most awkward moments she had ever experienced. The people around them knew something was wrong, but didn't dare ask. After sharing an awkward stare-off with Daryl, she turned away from him and walked into the house taking Hershel by surprise.

"I see we're past knocking now." he grumbled as she walked in and took a seat.

"Sorry" she muttered back angrily, "I was just doing a storm-off and I couldn't have a knock to interrupt it."

Hershel just rolled his eyes and went back to reading the same paper he was always reading.

"Why do you read that paper all the time?" she asked timidly.

"Waiting for a time when I can read a new one."

She smiled a little at his optimism though she figured it was mostly sarcasm. When she saw the sky turning different shades of pink, she decided to find Daryl and apologize so there wouldn't be any awkward moments in bed that night. When she walked outside to see he wasn't in the camp area, she figured he was where he always went when he was upset and it was too late to hunt. She bit on her bottom lip gently when she saw him sitting at Sophia's grave with his back to her. Deciding to give him a moment, she stood patiently gazing admirably at him. If only he showed his softer side more often. Just as she was getting ready to approach him, she heard someone walking up behind her. She turned to see Rose standing strangely across from her.

"Oh hey Rosie." she mumbled nervously.

"Don't 'hey Rosie' me" Rose replied angrily. Danielle furrowed her brow noticing just how awkwardly she was standing.

"What's wrong?"

"You told them." Rose answered moving to stand correctly revealing the revolver in her hand. Danielle took a step back raising her hands in the air.

"I didn't" she muttered. Just then, Daryl stood up and turned to see what was happening. He was about to hurry to pull Danielle out of the path of the gun when the shot rang through the air. Everything seemed to be in slow motion after that. Everyone at the camp heard the shot and ran to see what had happened. The bullet traveled from the gun's barrel, through Danielle's right arm, and nicked Daryl's hand. Danielle fell back with Daryl moving quickly to catch her. For a moment, all that could be heard was Rose's quiet laughter as Daryl worked to keep Danielle's wound from bleeding and Rick tried to coax Rose into letting the gun go.

"You alright?" Daryl mumbled stroking her hair gently.

"Yeah" Danielle managed to mutter out, "It just hurts…a lot."

"If it makes ya feel better, the bullet hit me too" he smiled a little showing her his bleeding hand. Danielle forced herself to smile back at him.

"It does kind of."

Rose turned to face the crowd behind her smiling crookedly at them.

"Well you all know I'm a fucking loon" she shouted waving the gun around making everyone duck away from her. Rick held a hand up to her with his other on his gun ready to take her down if he needed to.

"You're not crazy, Rose" he assured her making her laugh even more, "You're just scared. We live in crazy times."

"Oh no, Officer Rick" she laughed, "I'm crazy as it gets. Didn't Dani tell you? I stabbed the fuck out of her parents. Ripped them right open. And I _loved _every second of it."

Danielle buried her face into Daryl's chest trying to avoid the angry looks she was about to receive. But, much to her relief, the attention was drawn back to Rose when she moved the gun to point it at her own head.

"I don't belong here" she mumbled now crying. Shane was getting ready to tackle her when she pulled the trigger. Her lifeless body crumpled to the ground and Daryl held Danielle's face in his chest not wanting her to see it. Danielle gripped tightly onto his shirt with her left hand. Hershel shook his head standing at the back of the group.

"Well, bring her to the house." he demanded loudly scaring nearly half the crowd. Daryl stood up slowly cradling Danielle in his arms and walked as carefully as he could back to the house. Once inside, Hershel hurried him up the stairs and into a bedroom where he laid her on the bed.

"It ain't as bad as it could be" Daryl reassured her as Hershel pulled out his surgical tools. Danielle just laughed and shook her head. As it turned out, Daryl was right about it not being a terrible wound; Hershel had it patched up in a half hour. Not wanting to be more of an imposition than she already was, she had Daryl walk her out to their tent. Daryl helped her into the tent and to bed before laying next to her. Danielle rested her head on his chest feeling oddly at peace even with the events of the evening.

"I'm sorry" she heard Daryl mumble.

"For what?" she asked tilting her head up as much as she could to look at him.

"For what I said earlier" he continued, "About us bein' done. I knew I didn't mean it as soon as I said it, but once I saw your loony cousin pointin' that gun at ya, I was really regrettin' it. Thought I was gonna lose ya."

Danielle lifted herself a little to really look at him. When she saw some tears forming in his eyes, she smiled and moved to sit on him. He tried looking away as if he was trying to keep her from seeing him cry, but she held his face in her hand and pulled it back to look at her.

"You ain't done with me yet Mr. Dixon" she mocked leaning down and kissing his lips gently.


	13. Chapter 13

The ticking of the clock in Hershel's living room was all that could be heard in the awkward silence Danielle was sharing with the rest of the group. She shifted nervously in her seat twiddling her fingers before Daryl took her hand in his to make her stop. She looked over at him to see him looking back after a moment of silent communication with him, she took in a breath and relaxed a little looking back at the others. Lori seemed to be the one who resented her the most. Danielle couldn't blame her; she had knowingly let her psychotic cousin hang around Carl letting Lori believe he was safe.

"Rose was always a weird kid" she began making Lori scoff; she paused for a moment before continuing, "Even under the circumstances of our upbringing, she acted strange. It wasn't until I was older that I knew she was really just off in the head. All she ever talked about was how my parents deserved the worst fate possible. Honestly, sometimes I thought the same, but she really fixated on it. My parents knew that I was too timid to tell anyone about what they had been doing so they allowed me to go to school and eventually work, but Rosie was too headstrong. They kept her hidden; almost nobody even knew she existed."

She stopped for a moment to swallow back her emotions. At that moment, everyone, even Lori, seemed to have a different demeanor. Instead of looking scornfully at her, they were listening. She cleared her throat before continuing.

"I was twenty-five and Rose was only twenty. I had just finished a…date my parents had set me up on." she stopped to rest her hand on Daryl's leg when he shifted angrily in his seat, "When I walked in the house, I thought I was in some insane nightmare. There was blood everywhere. It looked as though someone had just gone around the house splattering it all over the walls and floor. The stench of death was the only thing I could smell. I walked into the kitchen to find Rosie all covered in blood with a knife in her hand. I must have come in right after it happened because she still had that look in her eye. It wasn't until she realized it really was me that she dropped the knife and ran over to hug me.

"I didn't want her touching me, I didn't even want her near me. At that point, I was still mute and I felt like I was choking on everything I wanted to scream at her. My parents, as horrible as they were, were the only people to hold a roof over our heads. When we heard the sirens of the police getting closer, she just took off. I knew that they were going to assume it was me any way and if they suspected otherwise, they would fingerprint the knife and go after Rosie. I knew what she did wasn't her fault, so I grabbed the knife and was holding it when the police broke the door down. I gladly took the blame so that Rose could have a chance at a better life. She ended up holding up a corner store during one of her fits, so she was incarcerated in a different ward up north."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Andrea chimed in making Danielle bite her lip gently.

"I was just happy she was okay when I saw her. When the reality of the situation kicked in, I didn't know how to tell anyone." she answered looking over at Andrea who was moving to sit by her, "We were all already stressed about the herd. I didn't know if it was a good time."

Andrea nodded rubbing Danielle's back gently in an attempt to comfort her. Danielle turned to look at Lori.

"Rosie loves kids" she said quietly, "Carl was never in any danger, but I understand your anger with me in not telling you."

Lori sat quietly for a moment with Rick taking her hand in his while she thought. It seemed as though the attitude of the day rested on how Lori would react to Danielle's statement. Then she lifted her gaze to meet Danielle's and she let out a sigh.

"It was a delicate situation" she finally said, "More damage could have been done if we had known about her condition. She probably would have hurt more than three people."

Danielle had almost forgotten about the wound on her arm, but as soon as her attention was brought back to it, she felt it throbbing. Holding Daryl's left hand tightly in hers, she looked over at his injured right hand and pursed her lips. With that, it seemed the conversation was over and everyone went back about their business. Lori left with Rick to check on Carl who was waiting patiently in the camper. Luckily, the boy hadn't seen what had happened that night, neither did Lori. When everyone else went to see what was going on, Lori kept Carl in the tent with her. He had already had to witness Sophia's untimely death, she didn't want to add anymore to that list so soon. As soon as the room was cleared, Danielle rested her head on Daryl's shoulder.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you" she mumbled feeling him kiss the top of her head, "I thought she was doing okay and I didn't want to trouble you with anymore of my family drama."

"My family's pretty fucked up too" he replied quietly, "Nothin' I can't handle."

Danielle smiled a little looking up at him to see him looking down at his hand.

"Sorry about that too" she added with a frown. To her surprise, he laughed a little.

"This ain't nothin'" he assured her, "I fell off a horse and got an arrow stuck in my side a while back. Compared to that, this tickled. Not to mention I had a damn walker tryin' to make a meal outta my boot."

There was no holding back the loud laugh that burst out of her. Daryl looked over at her trying his best to look disgusted.

"You think that's funny? I coulda died."

"Daryl Dixon don't die." she grinned, "He just gets angry. Besides, the scars you get from your little mishaps are pretty sexy."

Daryl's cheeks flushed a little and Danielle let out a quiet giggle as she leaned up to kiss his cheek. Hershel walked in and grimaced at the sight.

"Y'all need to take that outside" he grumbled moving through the room and up the stairs. Daryl and Danielle gave each other stern looks before laughing and walking out of the house. She held his hand tightly in hers as she took a look over at the barn where they stored Rosalinda's body. It made her sad that Rose had come to such a terrible end. She had memories of her from before she went insane and wished that's who Daryl and the rest of the group could have met. When Daryl saw that her gaze was lingering on the barn, he walked forward tugging her away so the building was out of view. Danielle took a seat across from Andrea who was cleaning her gun for what seemed like the millionth time. After making sure she was okay, Daryl gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before going to talk to Shane and Rick about who would be going with him on his next hunting trip. Ever since they got that buck, Rick wanted to go every time, but Shane showed some interest as well. Daryl had made it clear that he was only taking one person with him each time.

"Wish you could have known her before all of this" Danielle mumbled causing Andrea to look up at her.

"Who, Rose?"

"Yeah" she replied, "You remind me of her. Before she lost her mind I mean. She was always the strong one. I hope I'm not crossing the line of bringing her up, but Daryl's told me about your sister. The way he tells it, you were the protector."

Andrea's ice blue eyes shot up when Danielle mentioned her sister. At first she felt a bit of anger at the subject; Amy's death was still fresh in her mind. But, she knew that Danielle really knew nothing of Amy's death or the CDC incident. She didn't know that without Amy around, she really felt like she had nothing to live for anymore.

"Yeah" was all she muttered before setting her gun down on the TV tray in front of her, "Amy was the quiet, timid one out of the two of us. I wasn't there for a big part of her life; I regret that every day now…"

"She knew you loved her" Danielle blurted when she saw the tears forming in Andrea's eyes, "For you to talk like this about her now, there's no way she couldn't."

Andrea just nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes before looking at Danielle again. She fidgeted in her seat as she made the final adjustments to her gun. Remembering Daryl had a pack of cigarettes in the tent, Danielle told Andrea that she would be back and left to get one. There was no way she could have thanked Glenn enough for getting them for Daryl on his last trip into town. She pulled two of the reds out of the pack and went back to her seat offering Andrea one after she had already lit hers. Andrea smiled a little and took it from her lighting it eagerly. Danielle took a deep drag from hers and exhaled the smoke slowly as she looked up toward the sky.

"Gotta enjoy the little things" she mumbled. Andrea hummed in agreement.


	14. Chapter 14

Danielle could feel every muscle in her body trembling when she laid eyes on the blood covering her hands. With the blurred haze that clouded her vision, she was guessing that she had hit her head. Unsure of whose blood she had on her skin, she felt over her body for any major wounds, but found none. It didn't take long to feel around her immediate area until she felt a tense, warm body under her touch. Giving her head a good shake, she blinked her eyes intensely until her vision became clear again. The moment she saw who it was, she wished she could go back to being blind. Daryl's crystal eyes were staring frantically back at her. She pursed her lips and let her eyes scan over his body only to find a large chunk of flesh in his right forearm gone. Tears stung her eyes and her heart pounded loudly in her chest. When she took note of the sound of many walkers banging on the walls around them, she knew he had been bitten. A sudden chill shook her body as she brought her eyes back to his. Daryl raised his good arm to rest his blood-covered hand on her cheek stroking it gently with his thumb.

"S'okay" he muttered causing her to shake her head.

"This isn't real" she replied through a sob making him wince a little. Without speaking, he reached around with his other arm wincing a little more as he pulled a handgun from his belt. When she saw what he was doing, she tried pushing it away, but he just moved it back to her hand.

"You know whachu gotta do" he grunted as soon as she had the gun gripped in her hand, "Don' let me get to be one of them. I don' want you to see me like that."

"Don't leave me here alone." she blubbered in reply not caring about the tears that were now flooding down her face. Daryl did his best to wipe them from her cheeks but only made them dirtier with blood and mud.

"I won't be gone" he coughed a little causing blood to trickle out of the corners of his mouth, "You just won't see me."

He forced a small smile, but it was clear to Danielle that he was in extreme pain. She leaned down to try and give him a kiss but he turned away.

"Don't know if it'll infect ya" he grumbled moving her forehead to his lips and kissing it gently. Danielle tried holding back another wave of sobbing and gripped the gun tightly in her hand. She moved it slowly up to his temple her hand shaking violently. Daryl moved his hand to grip onto her free hand making her look him in the eye again as he mumbled, "I love you."

"I love you so much" she replied through another sob before quickly pulling the trigger. She closed her eyes and looked away from Daryl's now lifeless body unable to bear the sight. A few moments into the silence, she realized that she was really alone. When she heard that the efforts of the walkers outside was intensifying, she held the gun in front of her and stared at it for what seemed like an hour. With her mind made up, she held the gun up to her own temple and closed her eyes. Just as she was about to pull the trigger, she heard Daryl's soft voice whisper in her ear, "Dani"

She felt a sudden jolt in her body and found herself sitting upright in bed. There was a cold sweat that covered her whole body and she looked over to see Daryl just sitting up and staring worriedly at her. She was breathing heavily her heart pounding and eyes tearing up. Daryl opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Danielle throwing her arms around him.

"Uh…mornin'" his voice was muffled by her mess of hair. She pulled away without speaking and kiss his lips hard before going back to hugging him again.

"It wasn't real" she whispered more to herself than to him. That's when Daryl's curiosity got the best of him.

"What wasn't real?" he asked pushing her away and looking in her eyes. Danielle blinked wildly and just felt of his face for a moment before she was completely convinced that he was really there. A sudden calm came over her and she let out a loud sigh of relief before pushing him down and laying her head on his chest. He ran his fingers through her hair gently as she went on to tell him about the awful nightmare she had.

"Everything felt so real" she added silently, "It felt as real as you do right now."

"Well is wasn't and ain't ever gonna be" he replied calmly as he kissed the top of her head softly. Danielle furrowed her brow and bit on her lip.

"How do we know?" she asked making him tense up a little. She sat up and looked at him as she continued, "You're one of the people most at risk of this happening, Daryl. You're the hunter. You go out in those woods almost every day risking your life to get us some squirrels to munch on. I haven't mentioned this until now, but I get scared shitless every time you go out there. I worry every time that you're not gonna come back and I'll be here all by myself. Don't tell me that 'it ain't ever gonna' happen because that's a promise you can't keep."

Daryl moved his hand to her cheek and leaned up to kiss her lips gently.

"You're right." he mumbled running his fingers through her hair, "I can't promise that it won't happen, but I can promise that I'll do my best to come back to you every night."

It was a grim promise one that made her stomach turn, but it was enough to calm her for the moment. Danielle laid back down on him closing her eyes as she listened to his heart beat. As soon as she felt herself slipping back to sleep, she jerked herself awake again and stood up out of bed. Daryl scrunched his face not wanting to get up just yet. After changing into a black tank and some dark blue jeans, Danielle smiled down and him and leaned in to kiss his forehead gently.

"Stay in bed if you wanna, Lazy Bones" she mumbled making him scoff. She smiled brightly at him as she walked out of the tent and into the sunlight. It was easy for her to feel unusually optimistic knowing that her dream was just that. Knowing that not only had Daryl not been bitten by a walker, but was sleeping soundly in the tent behind her made her thankful that she still had him. When she saw Glenn getting ready for another trip into town, she skipped over to him catching him a little off guard.

"What's got you so pepped up this morning?" he asked hesitantly. Danielle just beamed a smile at him and shrugged.

"Woke up this morning and had a sudden sense of gratefulness" she answered, "Grateful that we're all alive and well."

Glenn just raised a brow at her and backed away slowly as if he was afraid the mood was going to change. She heard him mumble a weary "alright" before walking over to the camper to get a gun from Dale. With a sudden rush of adrenaline, Danielle hurried back to the tent not bothering to tell Daryl who it was. When she quickly unzipped the door and stuck her head in, he was in the middle of putting pants on and didn't have a shirt on yet. She heard a loud THUD and looked to see him laying on the bed and covering himself.

"Seriously?" she asked was a laugh. Daryl's cheeks flushed as he moved to pull a shirt on and walk out of the tent.

"Don't sneak up on me like that again." he grumbled wrapping his arm around her neck and pulling her into a kiss.

"Let's go to town with Glenn today" she replied quickly. Daryl's face contorted as he pulled away to look at her.

"Are you serious?" he asked cautiously, "Why?"

"He and Maggie always go on their own and I think we should go with. I'm tired of this farm."

"Fine" Daryl grumbled kissing her forehead, "I'll go talk to Glenn, you talk to Maggie."

Danielle nodded eagerly and took off running knowing exactly where Maggie would be at that time of the morning. It seemed to take her less than a second to make it to the chicken coop where Maggie was laying down some feed.

"Maggie" Danielle shouted as she ran up to where she was. Maggie looked at her with the same raised brow Glenn had given her earlier.

"What's up?" Maggie asked handing her a bucket of feed. Danielle smiled a little trying to catch her breath as she laid feed down for the birds.

"Daryl and I would like to join you and Glenn on your trip to town."

"It ain't a holiday" Maggie said shortly, "We go there, get whatever shit we need, and get out. Why would you wanna come?"

"I'm sick of this farm!" Danielle blurted causing Maggie to look hard at her, "Sorry, but I would like to see something other than fields or trees. And Daryl's already talking to Glenn about it."

"Well since Glenn won't be able to say no to Daryl without pissin' himself, I guess I gotta say yes." Maggie mumbled. Danielle smiled brightly dropping her bucket of feed and giving Maggie a big kiss on the lips before running off to find Daryl. Maggie stood there stunned for a moment before rolling her eyes and going back to feeding the chickens. From the look on Daryl's face when she saw him, it was clear to Danielle that Glenn had said yes.

"Why so glum? We're finally getting out of this farm and walking around." she said excitedly. Daryl sighed and shook his head.

"Dani, you just got done talking about how scared you got every time I went to the woods." he replied, "You know that walkers're out there in town too."

"We'll be fine, Daryl!" she added her smile not faltering, "Maggie and Glenn make it out okay all the time."

Daryl shook his head again and pulled her into a kiss.

"Don't make me regret agreeing to this"

Danielle just beamed a smile up at him before pulling him into a tight hug.


	15. Chapter 15

When the time came for Danielle and Daryl to join Glenn and Maggie to town, Danielle had finally started to regret the decision. It was understandable why Daryl was upset with her and hadn't spoken to her most of the day. If he had told her about a dream in which she had died of a zombie infection and then suddenly wanted to go to the one place she would be guaranteed to suffer such a fate, she would be upset and confused as well. Every time she tried to talk to him about it, she just couldn't come up with the words to justify what she had done. Daryl being who he was made telling him he didn't have to come out of the question; not only would he go, but he would be even more upset that she was treating him like a scared child.

The horse ride into town, however short, felt longer to Danielle because Daryl was still ignoring her. Glenn and Maggie, seeming to have felt the tension between the two, rode a few feet in front of them with Glenn tossing nervous glances back at them every now and then until Maggie punched him in the arm to make him stop. Danielle would chance a look over to Daryl only to see him squinting to look ahead into the sunlight. Even though she knew he was angry with her, she still felt a flutter in her stomach whenever she rested her eyes on him. She could see from the way his face was contorted that he was struggling not to look back at her which only made her stomach lurch even more.

Once they made it into town, Danielle was really starting to regret coming along. Not only was the dust in the air irritating her eyes, but it was hot as all get out. They all dismounted their horses and tied them to posts before separating to search the buildings for supplies. There really wasn't much left and it made Danielle chew on her lip nervously to think that they would have to travel farther to gather supplies or become nomadic altogether. She quickly grabbed some canned food items from the counters of the old grocery store and cautiously made her way to the back of the building clutching her gun tightly in her hand.

The sound of the floor creaking behind her was enough to make her freeze in fear. She took in a breath and turned slowly to face whoever it was behind her. When she saw the silhouette of a man, she let out a yelp and clutched her chest letting out a deep breath.

"Damn it, Glenn, don't sneak up on me like that." She mumbled before turning away from him again to take a look around. Glenn couldn't help but smile a little at the fact that he had the ability to frighten anybody.

"Sorry," he replied walking after her, "I thought Maggie would be the one who looks around in here."

"I think she went to the dentist office. She said something about toothpaste earlier."

There was a silence for a moment as Glenn tried to think of the best way to ask what he wanted to know, well, what Maggie wanted to know. Though Danielle was the nicer of the two, after the temper she displayed when T-Dog was bothering Daryl and when Rosalinda was around, Glenn was just as worried about asking the wrong thing as he would if he was talking to Daryl. It wasn't until the smell of the rotting meat in the back of the store made them turn to leave that he roused up the courage to speak again.

"So," he began slowly, "how's Daryl?"

Danielle stopped walking and turned to look at him with her face contorted in a look that made him laugh a little.

"If you wanna know why he's not talking to me, don't worry about it" she answered with a shrug as they walked out of the building and across the street to what looked like a bar. Glenn just nodded in understanding watching her eye the selection of alcohol. Danielle jumped the bar and began grabbing all the bottles she could; she figured it was time for a good night on the farm. Once she had cleared the bar, Glenn decided that there was nothing else worth taking in the building and left to find Maggie. Almost as soon as he walked out the door and Danielle hopped over the bar to join him, she heard someone shouting. She quickly pulled out her gun and went to see what was going on.

It wasn't what one would consider a really bad situation at first, there was only one walker waiting for him when he had left, but the fact that didn't have his guard up made it easy for it to get on him. Danielle struggled to get a shot at the walker's head, but they were moving around so much, she wasn't confident that she wouldn't hit Glenn instead. Finally, Daryl came bounding out of a nearby building his Bowie knife in hand and jumped on the walker's back jamming the knife quickly into its skull. Glenn let out a loud breath as he shoved the walker's body off of him and staggered to stand upright. Maggie was quick to pull him into an embrace before pulling away from him a little embarrassed.

"You alright?" she asked him looking him over. Glenn just nodded and wiped the sweat from his brow before patting Daryl on the shoulder and muttering, "Thanks man."

Daryl said nothing, but grabbed Danielle by the arm to pull her toward the horses. Glenn and Maggie took this as a sign that he wanted to leave and they were quick to follow after them. The ride back to the farm seemed much shorter than the ride into town. Danielle could feel Daryl actually looking over at her this time, only she was the one ignoring him. Frustration had been building up inside of her all day and the moment Daryl basically forced her onto her horse, she had had enough of his attitude. As soon as they made it back to the barn, she quickly put her horse away and walked out before Daryl had the chance to talk to her. It wasn't until she was close to their tent that she felt his grip on her arm again and she was being pulled around behind the house.

"What's with this habit of pulling me—" but she was cut off when Daryl pulled her into an almost bone-crushing hug. She didn't know why he was hugging her, but was quick to move her arms around him to hug him back.

"I'm sorry for ignorin' you all day" he finally mumbled as he let her go, "I keep forgettin' how easy it is to lose someone. You coulda been the one walkin' out of the bar before Glenn."

Danielle laughed a little and shook her head before kissing his lips gently.

"It's fine," she replied with a smile, "You're fine, I'm fine, and Glenn's fine."

"No he ain't"

They both turned to see Maggie staring at them her cheeks bearing tear stains. Danielle took a step toward her, but Maggie quickly moved back.

"He was bit" she continued, "It's all your fault."


	16. Chapter 16

A mixture of confusion and anger was sent through Danielle's being. There was no way Glenn had been bitten; he was just fine when Daryl pulled the walker off of him. It seemed that Daryl was thinking the same thing as he was just as quiet with his brow furrowed. The still silence seemed to have roused more anger in Maggie as she snapped her fingers in front of Danielle's blank face.

"He was bit" she repeated through gritted teeth, "If he hadn't been worried 'bout you two, we would have been in and outta there in no time. But, he just had to see if little Miss Thing was okay. What's wrong with you people?"

Just as Daryl opened his mouth to make a retort, Maggie turned on her heel and stormed off in the direction of the barn in which walkers had once been kept. Danielle looked over at Daryl just as he was speaking.

"Where the hell does she get off blamin' us?" he asked gruffly while scratching the back of his head. In some ways, Danielle understood why Maggie was so angry. Her anger wasn't just directed at them, but everyone in the group. In retrospect, it was clear to see that Daryl wasn't the only unappreciated member of the survivors.

"You remember when I blew up on T-Dog?" she finally muttered making Daryl's face contort in confusion.

"I don' think there's any way anyone could ferget that."

Danielle rolled her eyes before saying, "I think Maggie's finally reached her breaking point."

Before Daryl could even think of a way to question what she had just said, Danielle walked off quickly toward the barn. Though hesitant about it at first, Daryl let out a stiff breath and trudged after her his crossbow in hand. The scene in the barn was enough to make Danielle's heart ache for Maggie. She walked in to see Glenn lying on the floor with his head in Maggie's lap as she gently ran her fingers through his dark hair. Her eyes wandered to Glenn's now exposed torso to see a bloody spot on his chest. When Daryl walked in and took a look at him, he laughed in a way he had never laughed before. Maggie lifted her eyes to him and they were filled with a loathing that Danielle didn't know could exist.

"And what the hell're you laughing at?" she asked not leaving Glenn's side who just looked at Daryl with tearful eyes. Daryl just shook his head and set his crossbow down to brace himself on a nearby saddle rack. With all the time she had spent with the man, Danielle had gotten used to most of Daryl's quirks, but this was just as puzzling to her as it was to Glenn and Maggie. Danielle tossed a remorseful glance at the two before grabbing Daryl by the arm to pull him aside. Once they were away from Maggie, she slapped his shoulder and he stopped laughing instantly.

"The hell's wrong with you?" she asked and Daryl stifled another chuckle.

"C'mon, Dani" he replied, "You should know as good as I do that that ain't a bite."

Danielle pursed her lips and looked nervously over in Glenn's direction and brought her eyes back to meet Daryl's. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead trying to remember what the wound had looked like without having to go back to see in person. Then Daryl decided to help her out.

"I must've grabbed the boy too rough when I pult him up after I killed the walker" he said with a grin, "When I did it, I thought I had scratched him, but I didn't think I'd draw blood."

"You have got to be kidding me" Danielle laughed. Maggie must have heard the giggle because as soon as the sound had left Danielle's mouth, she had stormed out of the stall and was nose-to-nose with her.

"What is so damn funny?" she asked loudly, "He's gonna die-"

"No he ain't" Daryl cut her off with another laugh. He then went on to explain what had happened and Maggie's face flushed with embarrassment. The three walked back to find Glenn still lying on the floor; Maggie kicked his leg.

"Why would you-?"

"You didn't say Daryl had scratched you when he picked you up" Maggie glowered before kicking him again. Glenn stood up and looked at the wound again before looking over at Daryl who was now doubled over in laughter. At that moment, all three of them looked at the now red faced Daryl; none of them knew he could laugh so hard.

"It looked like a bite from my angle…" Glenn added with a shrug. Maggie then backhanded his shoulder before walking away; he was quick to chase after her. Once they were out of earshot, Daryl really let his laughter get the best of him. Danielle tried her best to look annoyed but it really was one of the funniest things she had ever experienced. Between laughs, Daryl let out, "Dumbass could've gotten hisself killed."

When Danielle let out a giggle and rubbed his back gently as he let his last fit of laughter out. He wiped his eyes and straightened up to look over at her.

"Ready to get back?" he asked trying to keep a straight face; Danielle nodded.

"But," she added making him raise a brow, "you have to give me a piggyback ride. It's your fault Maggie was so riled up at me."

Daryl nodded in agreement and bent his knees to make it easy for her to hop on his back. Once she was on him with her legs securely around his waist and her arms draped loosely around his neck, he started to walk at a steady pace.

"Why would you compare Maggie's attitude problem to what you did at camp that one time?" he had asked it so suddenly that Danielle almost didn't notice him talking. She moved her hands to stroke his scruffy chin with her fingers as she began her explanation.

"Glenn's just as underappreciated as you are" she sighed, "When you care about someone enough, things like that just don't sit well with you."

She could feel his face move under her fingertips making it plain to her that he was still coming to grips with her feelings for him. It made her sad to see that it was so difficult for him to accept that someone really cared about him, but she knew that he was like her. They had both grown up with less than lovable families. Adjusting the grip her legs had on him, she moved her face as close to his as she possibly could and kissed his cheek.


End file.
